Fact check: Has Department of Telecom in India made internet free till May 3, 2020?

ongoing coronavirus outbreak has led to a number of fake stories and information making round on internet. se stories are often unverified and do t hold any credibility to m. But re is a high possibility that se fake stories end up causing harm and inconvenience to people. One such story has w come to light. 

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Claim - 

A recent forwarded mess on WhatsApp was claiming that department of telecom in India has made internet free till May 3, 2020. mess claims that decision of giving free internet to users till May 3, 2020, has been taken to help people get through lockdown time with ease. mess also provided a link for users to get ir free recharge. 

Rating - False

claim made by mess does t hold any truth to it. official PIB Fact Check handle on Twitter has called mess to be fake and also urged people to t believe in such fake forwards. y posted a Hindi tweet and here is translation - 'Claim: Department of Telecom has anunced to provide free internet to all mobile users by May 3, 2020, to which y have to click on given link. Fact: This claim is completely false, and given link is fake. Please stay away from rumours and fraudsters.'

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Origin - 

As seen before, WhatsApp messenger has become an easy portal for torious users to share unverified news. Similarly, this mess also was forwarded in abundance on WhatsApp messenger. Besides this, fake mess also found its way to various or social media platforms. 

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Google Trends analysis - 

As mess of getting free internet till May 3, 2020, started doing rounds on internet. People took to Google and searched for same. Check it out below - 

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