'Joke' Indian tweet lands Pakistan cricketer in fake sexting media storm

The tweet carried a purported screenshot of Azam superimposed with a heart, and a video of a topless man in bed resembling the star cricketer. The Twitter account holder said he took the image and video from a since-deactivated Instagram account. — AFP

NEW DELHI: Indian media is awash with articles on how Pakistan cricket captain Babar Azam was allegedly "sexting" another player's girlfriend. The problem: it's false news that originated in a "joke" tweet from a parody account.

Illustrating how misinformation can morph into accepted reality and explode online, as well as the bitter enmity between India and Pakistan, media failed to notice – or chose to overlook – that the Twitter account was not meant to be taken seriously.