Early on Sunday, October 29, the news of three successive blasts reported at a prayer meeting in Ernakulam district’s Kalamassery shocked Kerala. Even as the police, district administration, and the media were grappling to ascertain the extent of the attack, including what caused the blasts and if there were any casualties, several people on social media started posting conspiracy theories about the incident targeting a particular community.
A particular connection was also made to a Palestine solidarity rally that took place in Malappuram on Friday, which included a virtual address by former Hamas chief Khaled Mashel. The implication was that the address had led to the blast. There was also a coordinated social media disinformation campaign about the number of blasts and a link between the blasts and Jews.
Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed that “open calls by terrorist Hamas for Jihad” caused “bomb blasts on innocent christians”.
Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K Surendran said that Kerala has become a state where “attacks and explosions continuously occur in crowds”.
Kerala BJP’s handle claimed that it was a “series of blasts”, at a time when three blasts were reported.
Meanwhile, a user posted a thread tracking disinformation on X (formerly Twitter).
Soon after the blasts were reported, Director General of Police (DGP) Sheikh Darvesh Sahib strictly warned people against spreading hate speech on social media. “I request that no provocative words or hate be posted on social media. If anybody does that, stringent action will be taken against them,” he said.
According to the police, the blasts were caused by three Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) killing three people so far and injuring more than 50 persons. One woman, identified as 60-year-old Layona Paulose, was charred to death on the spot while two others succumbed to injuries in the hospital – Kumari (53) and Libina (12).
Read: Who is Dominic Martin, the man who claimed responsibility for Kerala blasts?