A social media user from Nagaland has apologised after admitting that the bill behind his viral claim of sending 150 Domino's pizzas to students protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar was fake.
The user had earlier shared a post claiming he had ordered 150 pizzas for the protesters. The post quickly went viral, with many people praising him for what appeared to be an act of solidarity.
However, in a statement posted on Instagram, he admitted that the receipt was not genuine.
"The pizza bill that I shared was not an actual bill," he wrote.
He said the post was intended to encourage people to support the students' protest and inspire acts of kindness, but acknowledged that sharing a fake bill was a mistake.
He said he never intended to mislead anyone, damage anyone's reputation or create unnecessary controversy. He added that he now understands that "good intentions do not justify creating or sharing misleading material".
The user also addressed donations collected through a QR code shared alongside the post. He said contributors had been informed that the money would be used to support the protesting students and claimed that more than Rs 12,000 had been raised.
According to him, Rs 5,000 has already been sent through a friend to buy biscuits for the students, and he said he has proof of the transaction. He added that the remaining funds would also be used to support the protesters and promised to share evidence of how every donation is spent.
He also said that several large social media pages reposted his original post without his permission, helping it spread rapidly online. Despite that, he accepted full responsibility for creating and sharing the fake bill and apologised to everyone who felt disappointed or misled.
The Instagram account, @adiespoems (Zha-Lhou), has since been deactivated. However, local media outlets shared screenshots of the apology posted on the account's Instagram Stories before it went offline.
The clarification comes days after the claim that he had sent 150 Domino's pizzas to students protesting at Jantar Mantar gained widespread attention on social media and was widely celebrated as an act of support for the demonstrators.
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