India TV Fact Check: A photo of the late industrialist Ratan Tata is circulating on social media, with claims that it was displayed on the Burj Khalifa as a tribute to him. However, a fact check done by India TV has confirmed that this claim is false.
What is going viral?
Ratan Tata's image is going viral on social media, allegedly displayed on the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Following his death on October 9, several users have shared posts. For instance, a Facebook user named Abhijit Ghoshal shared the photo and captioned it as "Burj Khalifa was illuminated with his picture to pay tribute to veteran industrialist Ratan Tata." Similarly, a user named Harsh Yadav posted on X, "Sir Ratan Tata gets a real honour from Dubai's Burj Khalifa."
This photo is going viral
India TV did investigation
The claim regarding Ratan Tata's image being displayed on the Burj Khalifa gained significant traction on social media, prompting us to investigate. First of all, we went to Google Open Search and searched for the news related to Ratan Tata's picture featured on Burj Khalifa. However, we did not find any news anywhere in which any such incident was mentioned. Next, we checked the official Instagram account of Burj Khalifa and discovered that throughout October, the building had been illuminated for Breast Cancer Awareness, not for Ratan Tata.
This raised our suspicions about the viral post. We then searched keywords related to the Burj Khalifa display on Google. We found the same picture on the website of McLaren Engineering Group on which Ratan Tata's picture was being shared. However, Ratan Tata was not in the picture on the official website.
Original photo was found
Upon further investigation, we searched for images of Ratan Tata and found a photo on Britannica's website featuring him alongside the Nano car. This image closely resembled the one circulating on social media, except that the Nano car was not visible in the viral version. It became evident that the viral post was an edited combination of two separate images: one of Ratan Tata and another of the Burj Khalifa.
What came out in fact check?
The fact check done by India TV has revealed that the picture of Ratan Tata being displayed on Burj Khalifa is not false. The image circulating online has been edited. Ratan Tata's picture has not been showcased on the iconic building. People are advised to be cautious of such posts.
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