Fact check: No Evidence That University of Michigan Professor Praised Indian Culture, Viral Post Debunked

 

By: Rahul Thakur 

Recently, a news report clip has been circulating on social media that claims to quote Dr. Eric Geddes, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan. According to the report, he said, "By copying my country, India lost its joint family, culture, and social prosperity… and by neglecting the elders, it got addiction and loneliness.”

Is it true?

This is a misleading news report. The University of Michigan has confirmed that no person named Eric Geddes has worked as a Professor of Sociology. Additionally, the image used in the report is of another academician, Peter Clarkson, a Professor of Accounting and Finance at the University of Queensland, Australia. We were also unable to find any credible news sources reporting the statements mentioned in the image that is being circulated. 

How did we find out the truth?

An image of the claim used as a WhatsApp status

First, we ran a reverse image search of the newspaper clipping with the help of Google Lens, which led to several social media posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter sharing the same image. Some of these posts show an e-paper clipping of the news report, which shows that it was published on 8 August 2022 in the Dainik Bhaskar (Indore city) edition.

We were able to confirm this by spotting the news report on the epaper edition of the Dainik Bhaskar (Indore city)published on August 8, 2022. However, the report does not give details about whether these statements were made in a public event or an exclusive interview with the reporter, except that the said academician was on a personal visit to India. 

Screenshot of a tweet with the claim

City Bhaskar Indore (8th August, 2022) Epaper

To find if this was from a public event, we searched for other news media coverage in Indore about the person during the time. We were not able to find any other reports quoting this person during that time. We have emailed Dainik Bhaskar, Indore, for details and will update the story once we get a response.  

Further, we contacted the University of Michigan to verify the institutional affiliation of the person mentioned in the report. Brian Taylor, Communications Manager with the Office of Public Affairs, University of Michigan, confirmed that there is no record of such a person having worked at the University of Michigan since 2001. "The university has no record of the individual referenced in your email as having been employed at the University of Michigan", he said over email.

News report from the University of Queensland featuring Professor Peter Clarkson, whose image was misidentified as 'Dr. Eric Geddes' in the viral post.

When we ran a search for the image given in the news report, we found that the same image was used in a news report on the University of Queensland's website in 2019. According to the report, the person in the photograph is Professor Peter Clarkson, a Professor of Accounting and Finance with the University of Queensland, Australia. 

We have reached out to Professor Peter Clarkson via email to verify whether he visited India during the stated period or made the statements cited in the news report. We will update the story upon receiving a response.

Conclusion: We conclude that the Dainik Bhaskar news report, which claims that a Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan lauded Indian cultural values, is misleading. Our investigation found that no such academician has been affiliated with the University of Michigan, and the photograph used in the report is of a different academician whose field of expertise is not sociology. Moreover, there are no reports from credible news organisations corroborating the statement.

Fact-Check: Unrelated, Old Video Falsely Shared as Footage of Pahalgam Attackers

By: Aditya Veer Singh

Note: At the time of publishing this fact-check, the Instagram account was active. However, the user has later deleted the account where the original video was present.

A video posted on the Instagram account @Sadiq999 by a user from Azerbaijan on April 11, 2025, is being circulated on social media with the false claim that it shows the attackers involved in the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, India. However, the video has no connection to the incident in Pahalgam.

A short video showing a group of individuals travelling in a car is being shared on social media with the sketch of terrorists of the Pahalgam attack, where users have linked it to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on 22 April. 

Some users shared the clip after the terror attack, saying that " These are the dogs who shot after making them recite the Kalma! The bastards are celebrating now." (The original post can be seen here, and the archived version can be seen here)

Is it true? :

No, the claim is misleading. The video is old and has existed on the internet since April 11, 2025, by the Instagram account (_Sadiq999_), which is based in Azerbaijan. It has no connection to the Pahalgam terror attack. (Link to the original Instagram Post)

How did we find out the truth? :

We used Google Lens to take a screenshot of one of the keyframes from the video, which led us to a post with a section of this clip shared by an Insta page called "sadiq999_." 

We also came across the original version of the video, which was shared on Instagram.

The caption associated with the original post includes some promotional text in the Russian Language. A Google translated version of the text on the post reads, "The BMW E46 M3 CSL front springs are one coil shorter than the stock M3, and the springs and dampers have been retuned at each corner to account for the car's lighter weight. Both compression and rebound damping were changed in the process. Visit shop. BIMMERtips.com for genuine BMW parts, aftermarket parts, dealer brochures, vintage magazine ads, posters and more. FREE SHIPPING On all US orders. Link in bio. Visit BIMMERtips.com for paint codes, wheel style guides and other helpful reference information in addition to helpful tips and tricks. Link in bio."

The account tagged as "Content Creator" in its about section has been active on Instagram since February 2024.

 While we could not independently verify the location of the video, past content from the handle and the presence of the same individuals in the older videos from the handle, along with the descriptions of the posts, indicate  that the video has no connection to the terror attack in Pahalgam. 

Conclusion: An old, unrelated video is being shared with the claim that this is the group of terrorists who are responsible for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's  Pahalgam on 22 April 2025.