PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2021-12-18 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • The quote on this billboard featuring Queen Elizabeth II has been altered (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • An image has been shared repeatedly in posts on Facebook and Twitter alongside a claim that it shows a UK billboard displaying a picture of Queen Elizabeth II commenting on India’s independence from Britain in 1947. However, the image has been manipulated. The photograph of the queen originally appeared on a billboard in the British capital of London alongside quotes from a speech she made about the Covid-19 pandemic. The image was shared here on Twitter on 12 November. It shows a headshot of Queen Elizabeth II alongside a quote in Hindi emblazoned on a large billboard. The quote in the image translates to English as: We only gave pensions as a handout, not freedom. ( Uzair RIZVI) The caption in Hindi translates to English as: The Queen gave a statement? Only for international beggars. The post taps into a controversy in India sparked in November when Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut -- a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- said in an interview that the freedom India gained in 1947 when it declared independence from Britain was a handout and real freedom came in 2014, the year Modi was elected. Her comments triggered a backlash with some critics countering that Vinayak Savarkar -- a historic pioneer of the Hindu nationalism espoused by Modi -- had written a mercy petition to the British administration for participating in India’s freedom struggle and later received a pension from them. The quote on the billboard reflects that criticism of Savarkar. Another Facebook post mentions Savarkar explicitly, saying: The Queen of London said that they only gave a pension to Savarkar as a handout, not freedom. The image and similar claims were also shared here , here, and here on Facebook; as well as here and here on Twitter. Comments indicated some people may have been misled to believe the queen had made such a statement. One user wrote in Hindi: This queen has gone mad, our heroes lost their lives for the freedom of the country. The people of our country have fought for it, then the country has become independent. The queen has become old, her brain has stopped working.’ Another wrote in Hindi: Very good, very apt, very strong. The claim, however, is false. The image has been digitally manipulated to include a fabricated quote from Queen Elizabeth II. A reverse image search on Google found an image of the billboard featuring the same photo of the queen alongside a different quote in this report from a UK-based business magazine, Campaign . The report describes how quotes from a televised national address the queen gave about coronavirus appeared alongside a photo of her on a digital billboard in London’s Piccadilly Circus in April 2020. The image used at the top of the report shows a quote on the billboard. It reads: We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again; we will meet again, taken from the queen’s speech on April 5. Lower down in the story the billboard is shown with a different quote in which the queen praises Britain’s health workers. Below is a screenshot comparison of the billboard in the doctored image (L) and the billboard as shown in Campaign magazine’s report (R): ( Uzair RIZVI) The same photo of the billboard, credited to Britain’s PA Media, also featured in this BBC report on April 9, 2020. It describes how the giant image of the queen and quotes from her coronavirus speech appeared at London’s Piccadilly Circus. AFP photographer Glyn Kirk captured the billboard from a different angle -- his image was published here on AFP's website on April 18, 2020. AFP previously debunked a different false claim about another version of the altered billboard after it also circulated in India. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url