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WhatsApp University
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About
WhatsApp University is a pejorative phrase used to refer to fake news and misinformation in the country of India, often spread through text and image forwards on the messaging app. Popularisation of the term is often credited to Indian journalist Ravish Kumar in 2018, however, the term has been used on the internet as early as 2016.
Origin
In 2016, several Indian journalists and internet commentators began to note the increasing influence of internet fake news in the form of Whatsapp forwards. On December 24th, 2016, Twitter[1] user @badjourno quote tweeted a photo posted by @smitaprakash[2] alongside the caption, "This is bizarre! Banks are printing whatsapp forwards & passing them off as circulars." The original post gathered over 200 likes, with @badjourno's quote tweet being the earliest known mention of the phrase "Whatsapp University" on the internet (seen below).
Other early news cycles about "Whatsapp University" revolved around fact-checking misinformation about articles being widely shared on the platform.[3] On May 24th, 2018, ex-NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar participated in an interview with comedian Kunal Kamra, saying that he thinks Indian Prime Minister Modi was educated about Indian history at "Whatsapp University" (seen below). The YouTube[4] video has gathered over 8 million views in four years.
Spread
The term gained more prominence in consecutive years, with a street interview by Facebook parody page "Official Peeing Human" going viral on 7th December 2018, gathering over 103,000 reactions in nearly four years (seen below).[5]
Another media personality credited with popularising the term "Whatsapp University" is YouTuber Dhruv Rathee. On December 9th, 2019, Rathee posted the following video to his Twitter,[6] gathering over 19,000 like in over three years.
Our Home Minister is shouting lies like a WhatsApp University graduate
Reality is that Hindu Mahasabha + Jinnah supported Partition on religious basis. But Congress was against Partition & tried their best.
Hypocrisy ki bhi seema hoti hai mota bhai pic.twitter.com/HQBSDJmWOl— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) December 9, 2019
Various Examples
Search Interest
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External References
[2] Twitter – smitaprakash
[4] YouTube – Kunal Kamra
[5] Facebook – Official Peeing Human
[6] Twitter – dhruv_rathee
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