DigitEye India Fact Checkers
As the G20 summit that was held in New Delhi came to an end on September 10, multiple analysts shared their opinions on social media. One such video is going viral on the internet. Social media users claim that this video shows the Indian-American journalist, Fareed Zakaria’s recent analysis of the Indian economy after the G20 summit held in New Delhi.
This is Zakaria's analysis after the G20 Summit.
A short 6 minutes video which is worth watching. pic.twitter.com/rSa47OonzC
— Fundamental Blasters (@FundamentalGems) September 12, 2023
The video is also doing rounds on WhatsApp and Facebook.
The viral posts claim that:
“This is Zakaria’s analysis after the G20 Summit. A short 6 minutes video which is worth watching.”
It has also been shared here, here, and here. Digiteye India received a WhatsApp request to fact check this viral video.
FACT CHECK
In the viral video, Fareed Zakaria is talking about three revolutions that have heralded a change in the Indian economy – the Aadhar revolution, the Jio revolution, and the infrastructure revolution.
The Digiteye India team used inVID – a video verification tool – to break the video down into multiple keyframes. We used one keyframe, used some keywords and ran a Google search. One result led us to this news article dating back to April 29, 2023. The article by The Print mentions that in a Washington Post column, Fareed Zakaria had written about these three “revolutions.”
We looked for The Washington Post column where he had written about it. A Google search led us to the column that was published on April 28, 2023. Fareed Zakaria wrote, “Visiting India this week, I was struck by how different the mood there is compared with much of the world. While people in the United States and Europe are worried about inflation and a possible recession, Indians are excited about the future.”
He mentioned the Aadhar revolution where he wrote, “Aadhaar enrollment is open to all and free, but its most distinctive feature is that it is publicly owned and operated, unlike in the West, where digital platforms such as Google and Facebook are private monopolies that can share your data to make a profit.”
Talking about Jio, he wrote, “The second is the Jio revolution. Mukesh Ambani, India’s biggest and most ambitious business leader, who made a staggering $46 billion bet by offering very cheap phones and data packages through his telecom service Jio. He could get most Indians on the internet. ”
On infrastructure, Fareed Zakaria wrote, “The third is an infrastructure revolution, which is readily apparent to anyone visiting India.”
These statements are the exact same sentences Fareed Zakaria was speaking in the video. When we dug deeper, we found the original video that was posted by CNN on their website on April 30, 2023. The 6:29 minute long video was the same video that has been shared in the viral posts.
Fareed Zakaria had visited India earlier this year and he spoke about his experience on his show – CNN GPS. Hence, an old video has been passed off as a recent take by the journalist after the G-20 summit.
CLAIM: Fareed Zakaria shared an analysis of the Indian economy after the G20 summit.
CONCLUSION: An old video from April 2023 is being passed off as a recent take by Fareed Zakaria. The journalist shared this analysis after he had visited India earlier this year.
RATING: Misrepresentation — 
