Recently, Canada-based Punjabi singer Shubh’s ‘Still Rollin’ India concert was abruptly cancelled after he shared a distorted map of India on his Instagram story in January. People accused the Canadian singer of being a Khalistani sympathiser.
Against this backdrop, an image of Shubh’s Instagram profile is being widely circulated on social media, claiming that he lost almost 2.5 million followers after sharing India’s distorted map.
In the viral post, a comparison between two screenshots reveals a contrast in his follower count. One screenshot shows a fan base of four million followers, while the other features a lower count of 1.5 million followers.
A Facebook user shared this post with a description: “ये है नया भारत… ये है नए भारत की शक्ति… ये है नए भारत के आम आदमी का राष्ट्र समर्पण .शुभ के 4M फॉलोवर्स थे. जैसे ही शुभ एक्सपोज हुआ, जैसे ही देश को पता चला कि शुभ खालिस्तानी है, मेरे देश की जनता ने शुभ से दूरी बना ली. इंस्टाग्राम पर शुभ के फॉलोवर्स अब 1.5M रह गए हैं. देश के नागरिक अपने अधिकारों के साथ अपने कर्तव्य को भी समझते हैं और राष्ट्ररक्षा के यज्ञ में अपना गिलहरी योगदान दे रहे हैं।“ [English translation: This is the new India… This is the power of the new India… This is the dedication to the nation of the common man of the new India. Shubh had 4M followers. As soon as Shubh was exposed, as soon as the country came to know that Shubh is a Khalistani, the people of my country distanced themselves from Shubh. His followers on Instagram are now 1.5M. The citizens of the country understand their rights as well as their duties and contribute their bit to the cause of national defence.]
This Facebook post can be seen here.
It is being widely shared on Facebook and X with a similar claim.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim, and found it to be false.
With a keyword search, the NM team traced a social media analytics website Social Blade, which informs that Shubh has not lost over 2.5 million followers after the controversy. In fact, Shubh gained more than five lakh followers in 30 days.
According to the website, Shubh never touched 4.0 million followers in the past. At the time of filing this fact-check report, he had 1.59 million followers. Click here to view his Instagram profile.
He lost 11,149 followers on September 16, which was a major drop. But he gained 11,627 followers on the very next day. According to the tool, Shubh’s followers increased by over 100,000 per day on September 21 and 22, 2023. On August 25 and 26, Shubh had over one million followers (1,009,290), which grew to over 1.5 million (1,549,198) by September 24. In August of the previous year, he had only about 350,000 followers.
So, it’s confirmed that Shubh has not lost over 2.5 million followers after his show in Mumbai got cancelled for sharing a distorted Indian map.
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