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

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has led to a number of fake stories and information making the round on the internet. These stories are often unverified and do not hold any credibility to them. But there is a high possibility that these fake stories end up causing harm and inconvenience to people. One such story has now come to light. 

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Claim - 

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

Rating - False

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

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Origin - 

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

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Google Trends analysis - 

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

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