By Isma’il Auwal
A 2:57 minute-long audio clip, in which one Varun pulyani, who identified himself as a “WhatsApp director” claimed that any user who refused to share the said clip to 10 of his contact will have his WhatsApp messenger deleted.
In the viral clip, the acclaimed director of WhatsApp claimed that to have sold WhatsApp for $19 billion dollars to Mark Zuckerberg.
“If you have at least 20 contacts end this message and logo of your WhatsApp will change to a new icon to Facebook ‘F’ within 24 hours, send this message to activate your WhatsApp with Facebook services or else your account will be deleted from new servers.”
The 2:57 minutes | audio clip is being shared widely by many WhatsApp users assuming the claims made in it are true.
This is shortly after the Facebook-owned companies experienced a nearly six-hour outage around the world recently.
Checks by SAHELIAN TIMES showed that the viral clip was not released from WhatsApp Inc and the name of WhatsApp director is Jan Koum, not Varun pulyani, as claimed in the viral clip
Further checks by NewsMeter revealed that the viral message was first shared in 2014 when Mark Zuckerberg acquired WhatsApp.
An IT expert based in Abuja, Abdulhadi Ahmad, in an interview with our reporter said that the voice in the said audio clip was created using a technology called deep fake.
He also noted that, “if you listen to the audio clip carefully, no date was mentioned, and that is why clip can be re-shared all the time. ”
VERDICT:
The viral audio WhatsApp clip is fake and messenger will not shut down as claimed.
