风萧萧_Frank
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因一段在加拿大领取食物的视频走红的印度留学生梅胡尔·普拉贾帕蒂 (Mehul Prajapati) 辟谣，否认自己被“解雇”
斯特拉·戴伊 2024年5月1日
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/current-affairs/mehul-prajapati-indian-student-canada-food-bank-td-bank-free-groceries-viral-video-fake-news-fact-check-exclusive-12707877.html
梅胡尔·普拉贾帕蒂的收件箱里涌入了大量仇恨信息，人们警告他“小心点”，扬言要“找到他”，还说着“滚回你的国家”之类的话。
梅胡尔·普拉贾帕蒂是加拿大的一名硕士研究生，一段疯传的视频彻底改变了他的生活。 （图片：@Slatzism/X）
社交媒体让虚假信息像野火一样蔓延，而梅胡尔·普拉贾帕蒂（Mehul Prajapati）的故事就是一个警示。这位在加拿大留学的印度学生，因为一段视频而被贴上了“小偷”的标签。26岁的普拉贾帕蒂原本只是想通过制作一些关于他在加拿大生活的信息视频来帮助其他学生。然而，仅仅两个月前，这个简单的举动却因为一段视频而急转直下，让他陷入了争议、仇恨和不公正指控的漩涡之中。
普拉贾帕蒂的遭遇最初看似平常：一段展示他如何为大学学生获取免费食物的视频，在他仅有的1500名Instagram粉丝中，只有4000次观看和三条评论。然而，这段视频随后被下载，并在X和Reddit等其他社交媒体平台上迅速传播，带来了意想不到的后果——普拉贾帕蒂被贴上了“小偷”和“蹭吃蹭喝者”的标签。
仇恨信息涌入他的邮箱，随之而来的是一波又一波的舆论反弹。更令人不安的是，有传言称他已被加拿大道明银行解雇。
但正如常言所说，事实远非耸人听闻的描述。在接受Moneycontrol的独家专访时，普拉贾帕蒂拿出相关文件为自己辩护，澄清事实。
与指控相反，普拉贾帕蒂并没有从政府运营的、旨在帮助弱势群体的食物银行偷窃食物。
相反，他是在利用威尔弗里德·劳雷尔大学提供的一项合法项目，他目前在该校攻读硕士学位。该大学与路易斯安那州公共利益研究组织（LSPIRG）和马丁·路德大学学院合作，为面临食物短缺的学生提供免费食品。
普拉贾帕蒂参与该项目的情况被误解，引发了网络上的轩然大波，尽管他在视频中从未提及政府运营的食物银行，而只是提到了他所在的大学。
该大学的网站对该项目进行了详细说明。“LSPIRG 和马丁·路德大学学院欢迎您参加我们的每周免费物资发放项目，旨在解决校园内的食品安全问题。我们为劳里埃大学和马丁·路德大学学院有需要的学生提供免费的食品杂货和其他必需品。”网站上写道。网站还补充说，您必须是这两所大学的学生，并持有有效的身份证明才能享受这项服务。
普拉贾帕蒂遭遇的导火索是一位名叫 @Slatzism 的社交媒体用户，他放大了围绕普拉贾帕蒂视频的误解。
尽管缺乏可验证的证据，@Slatzism 的行为却导致了不必要的后果。一些X用户追踪到了Prajapati的Instagram账号，然后又找到了他的LinkedIn账号，发现他的个人资料里提到了TD银行。他们甚至还给这家银行——Prajapati所谓的雇主——发了邮件，试图让他“被解雇”。
@Slatzism在X上分享了一张银行回复邮件的截图，邮件中称他为“食物银行劫匪”，并声称他已被解雇。
更新：食物银行劫匪已被解雇 https://t.co/RFLqvVGJb1pic.twitter.com/CDdrfrmbqI
— pagliacci the hated (@Slatzism) April 22, 2024
但事情并非如此简单。Prajapati从未在TD银行工作过。他曾在该银行实习17周——他的大学课程要求他完成两次强制性实习——实习期于2023年12月结束。此外，Prajapati持有学生签证，在加拿大合法从事全职工作是不被允许的。Moneycontrol已核实了他的实习相关文件。
他既没有像@Slatzism声称的那样获得9.8万加元（约合590万卢比）的报酬（@Slatzism只是在银行里寻找中位数薪资），也没有在TD银行工作过。显然，他也没有被解雇。那么，TD银行为什么会给@Slatzism发邮件说他“不再在TD工作”呢？因为他确实不在TD工作了。
银行在邮件中从未提及他被解雇；他们只是陈述了事实——他不再在那里工作了。这也成了@Slatzism的攻击目标，他称Prajapati为“食物银行强盗”，并在X上分享了这封邮件，还说Prajapati已被解雇。
在Prajapati向Moneycontrol澄清后，道明银行(TD Bank)联系了多家加拿大新闻媒体并发表了一份声明。加拿大日报《The Record》援引发言人Lisa Bodnar的话说：“视频中出现的这个人目前并非道明银行的员工，据我们所知，在视频发布时他/她也并非道明银行的员工。”
在这场争议之后，Prajapati发现自己受到了威胁和敌意的包围。
这迫使他从周五起就退出社交媒体，把自己关在家里。
他的大学表示支持并驳斥了对他的任何指控，执法部门也建议他保持警惕，但普拉贾帕蒂独自一人身处异国他乡，没有任何支持系统，再加上与远在印度的家人分隔两地，焦虑情绪依然挥之不去。
他所在大学的学生事务主任正在调查此事。
“针对我们学生的网络暴力是恶意且有害的，”该大学在给《记录报》的一份声明中表示。“我们正在为这名学生提供必要的支持。”
普拉贾帕蒂于2022年从艾哈迈达巴德搬到加拿大，寻求更好的教育机会。但随着加拿大生活成本的上涨，他不得不依靠校园内的兼职工作来维持生计。他每月支付800美元与室友合租一间房间，他说自2022年入学以来，他只领取过五六次食物银行的救济金。
他甚至在学校的食物援助项目中做过志愿者，他希望学校里经济困难的学生也能享受到这些福利，因为印度的生活成本并不低。
由于没有抵押物，他甚至无法在印度获得银行贷款来支付学费，只能依靠家人和亲戚的借钱，尽管要支付利息。
Moneycontrol采访了梅胡尔在艾哈迈达巴德的哥哥拉胡尔，他一直在四处奔走，帮助弟弟洗清冤屈。梅胡尔远在千里之外，焦虑不安，由于担心自身安全，目前还无法立即回家。
对于普拉贾帕蒂来说，这场磨难暴露了社交媒体的阴暗面，虚假信息会损害他人的名誉，并引发不必要的恶意攻击。
据 Moneycontrol 报道，梅胡尔·普拉贾帕蒂的收件箱里充斥着大量仇恨信息，人们纷纷警告他“小心点”，扬言要“找到他”，还说着一些老生常谈的“滚回你的国家去”。
以下是梅胡尔·普拉贾帕蒂收到的一些来自印度人和加拿大人的仇恨信息。
为了摆脱这些始于周五在 Reddit 上、并迅速登上印度各大新闻网站头条的负面信息和仇恨言论，梅胡尔关闭了所有社交媒体账号。
“听到手机通知我都会害怕。我把自己锁在家里六天，担心自己的安全，也感到孤独无助。似乎没有人想听我解释；他们只是轻信关于我的谣言，在短短几分钟内就毁掉了我苦心经营了 25 年的声誉。”梅胡尔在电话中告诉 Moneycontrol。
回顾这段经历，他感叹网络上的虚假信息传播如此之快。没有人问过他的说法，没有人从逻辑上质疑学生是否能找到全职工作，甚至没有人认真看过视频，看看视频里说的是政府救济粮还是大学项目。
“这次经历让我明白了一个惨痛的教训：网上看到的并非全是真的。通常，真相与人们的想象截然不同。这就是社交媒体和互联网的阴暗面，它能在瞬间让你成为英雄，也能让你一文不值。”他补充道。
普拉贾帕蒂和他的兄弟声称自己受到了种族歧视，并认为有人在社交媒体上发起了一场针对印度学生的诽谤运动。据称是一名记者的X用户@Slatzism发布了关于普拉贾帕蒂的言论，根据她之前的数十条帖子，该用户被指控恶意攻击印度或印度人。
他们正在寻找新的拉屎地点 https://t.co/zZ9CiRCz7z
— pagliacci the hated (@Slatzism) 2024年1月2日
梅胡尔·普拉贾帕蒂（Mehul Prajapati）现在经常焦虑发作，他只想回家待一段时间，和家人团聚，但这似乎遥遥无期，因为他仍然被困在家里，担心自己在异国他乡的安全。
Indian student in Canada, viral for food bank video, debunks fake news about his 'sacking'. Exclusive
Stella Dey May 01, 2024
Numerous hate messages have inundated Mehul Prajapati’s inbox with people asking him to be 'careful', how they will 'track him down' and the usual 'go back to your country.'
Mehul Prajapati is a Masters student in Canada and his life has turned upside down due to a viral video. (Image: @Slatzism/X)
Misinformation spreads like wildfire thanks to social media and the story of Mehul Prajapati, an Indian student in Canada who was labelled a “thief” over a video, serves as a cautionary tale. Prajapati, 26, wanted to aid his fellow students by creating informational videos about his life in Canada. However, what began as a simple endeavour just two months back took a sinister turn when a single video catapulted him into a whirlwind of controversy, hate, and unjust accusations.
Prajapati's ordeal commenced innocuously enough; a video showcasing how he accessed free food for students at his university got only 4,000 views and three comments from his modest 1500 followers on Instagram. The video was then downloaded and it spread like an inferno on other social media platforms like X and Reddit which bore an unexpected consequence – the branding of Prajapati as a "thief" and “freeloader”.
Hate messages inundated his inbox, and a wave of backlash ensued. Even more distressingly, rumours circulated that he had been terminated from his job at Canadian bank TD.
But as is often the case, reality proved far removed from the sensationalised narrative. In an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, Prajapati set the record straight, armed with supporting documents to vindicate himself.
Contrary to the accusations, Prajapati was not pilfering from government-run food banks meant to aid the underprivileged.
Rather, he was availing himself of a legitimate program provided by Wilfrid Laurier University, where he pursues his Master's degree. The university's initiative, in collaboration with LSPIRG and Martin Luther University College, offers free groceries to students facing food insecurity.
Prajapati's involvement in the program was misconstrued, fuelling the online frenzy, even though in the video he never mentions government-run food banks – only his college.
The college website elucidates on the program. “LSPIRG and Martin Luther University College welcome you to our Free Weekly Distro program to combat food insecurity on campus. We provide free groceries and other essentials for Laurier and Luther students who need them,” it reads. The list also adds you must be a student of either college and have proper identification to avail this facility.
The catalyst for Prajapati's ordeal stemmed from a social media user, @Slatzism, who amplified the misconceptions surrounding his video.
Despite the lack of verifiable evidence, @Slatzism's actions led to unwarranted repercussions. Several X users tracked down Prajapati’s Instagram and then LinkedIn where they found TD Bank on his profile and even went to the lengths of emailing the bank – Prajapati’s supposed employer – to get him “fired”.
@Slatzism shared a screenshot of one of the responses of the bank to the email on X calling him a "food bank bandit" and claimed he has been fired.
update: the food bank bandit was fired https://t.co/RFLqvVGJb1pic.twitter.com/CDdrfrmbqI
— pagliacci the hated (@Slatzism) April 22, 2024
But there is a catch. Prajapati was never an employee of the bank. He was an intern for 17 weeks at the bank – his college course requires him to do two mandatory internships - and his stint ended in December 2023. And what's more, Prajapati is on a student visa and legally cannot have a full-time job in Canada. Moneycontrol has checked and verified the documents regarding his internship.
Neither did he get paid Canadian Dollars 98,000 (Rs 59 lakh), as claimed by @Slatzism who only looked for a median salary at the bank, nor was he even employed at TD. And clearly not fired. So why did TD Bank email @Slatzism saying he “no longer works at TD?” Because he does not.
The bank never mentions in its email that he was sacked; they merely mentioned the truth – he did not work there anymore. That too became fodder for @Slatzism who called him a "food bank bandit", shared the email on X, and added that Prajapati was sacked.
After Prajapati's clarification to Moneycontrol, TD Bank spoke to Canadian news outlets and released a statement. "The individual identified in the video is not a current TD employee and to our knowledge was not employed with TD at the time the video was posted," spokesperson Lisa Bodnar was quoted saying by Canadian daily The Record.
In the wake of the controversy, Prajapati found himself besieged by threats and hostility, prompting him to retreat from social media and shut himself inside his home since Friday.
His college offered support and dismissed any accusations against him, and law enforcement advised caution, yet Prajapati's anxiety persisted being all alone in a foreign country with no support system, exacerbated by the distance from his family in India.
The dean of students at his university is reviewing the situation.
"The online abuse directed at our student is malicious and harmful," the university said in a statement to The Record. "We are providing the student with the necessary support."
Prajapati moved from Ahmedabad to Canada in 2022 for better educational prospects. But after the fixed cost of living increased in Canada, he had relied on jobs on campus to make ends meet. He pays $800 for a room shared with flatmates and he says he has availed the food bank benefit only five or six times during since he joined the college in 2022.
He even volunteered at the college's food programme and only wanted struggling students at his college to avail the benefits as cost of living in the country is not cheap.
He couldn’t even secure a bank loan in India to fund his education because he had no collateral and had to rely on family and relatives to loan him the money albeit with interest.
Moneycontrol spoke to Mehul’s brother in Ahmedabad, Rahul, who has been reaching out to people to help clear his brother’s name, who is thousands of kilometres away and suffering from anxiety and still unable to come back home immediately – because he fears for his safety.
For Prajapati, the ordeal exposed the perilous underbelly of social media, where misinformation can tarnish reputations and incite unwarranted vitriol.
Numerous hate messages, seen by Moneycontrol, have inundated Mehul’s inbox with people asking him to be “careful”, how they will “track him down” and the usual “go back to your country.”
A few of the hate messages Mehul Prajapati has been receiving in his inbox from Indians and Canadians.
Mehul deactivated all his social media accounts to get away from the negativity and hate that all started on Friday on Reddit and soon became headlines on websites of major news websites across India.
“Hearing my phone notification would scare me. I stayed locked up at home for six days, worried about my safety and dealing with feeling alone and unsupported. Nobody seemed to want to hear my side; they just believed false things about me that ruined the reputation I worked 25 years to build, all in just a few moments,” Mehul told Moneycontrol over the phone.
Reflecting on his experience, he lamented the ease with which misinformation proliferate online. No one asked him his side, questioned logically if a student could have a full-time job or even paid attention to the video whether it was government food bank or a college programme.
“This experience taught me a hard lesson: not everything you see on the internet is true. Often, the real story is very different from what people assume. This the dark side of social media and internet either can make you hero or zero in a click of time,” he added.
Prajapati and his brother claim racial bias and believe a slander campaign was started on social media targeting Indian students. The X user @Slatzism, reportedly a journalist, who made the claims about Prajapati has been called out, based on her dozens of previous posts, for maliciously targeting India or Indians.
they’re looking for new places to shit https://t.co/zZ9CiRCz7z
— pagliacci the hated (@Slatzism) January 2, 2024
Mehul Prajapati, who is now getting regular anxiety attacks, just wants to come back home for a while to spend some time with his family but that too seems far off as he still remains locked inside his house, scared for his safety in a foreign country.
