Pori Moni viral video claims buzz around Maasranga TV in Bangladesh

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThis is BBN Investigates. Two headlines, posted two minutes apart, both promising a viral video from Bangladesh. Gloria has spent the day on them.

2. 

   Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThe question is simple. Who benefits when a video nobody can describe is announced with more punctuation than a tax form?

3. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorI have charts, and I can say with confidence that they prove nothing. That is the finding.

4. 

   Gloria Vance · World News AnchorExhibit one. Fifty-seven minutes ago, a feed from the Universidad de Córdoba posted a headline naming Pori Moni and Maasranga Television.

5. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorA university in Spain.

6. 

   Gloria Vance · World News AnchorExhibit two, two minutes later, from the same source. It adds the name Mehjabin and the phrase search interest.

7. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorTwo headlines, two minutes apart. That is either a coincidence or a coordinated distraction, and I cannot rule out either one.

8. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorNeither headline says what happens in the video. Or whether there is a video.

9. 

   Gloria Vance · World News AnchorWhich is exactly what someone would write if they wanted us to keep reading. Let us look at the timeline.

10. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorFifty-nine minutes ago, the first headline. Fifty-seven minutes ago, the second. By my count, nothing has happened since, except us.

11. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorNow, my chart. This line is interest in the video, and this line is the video itself. They never meet.

12. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorWhich line is which?

13. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorI will not be taking questions on the axes.

14. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThen we go deeper. The headlines open with a swirl of symbols, brackets, a plus sign, a little sun. I believe it is a code.

15. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorA sun. In October. Somebody is warming us up for something.

16. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorEighteen followed by a plus sign. Is that an age, a rating, or a sum of money? I have asked three people.

17. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorAnd what did they say?

18. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThat it means eighteen plus. They hung up on me.

19. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorHold on, I have a theory. The typos are the signature. Nobody writes machranga by accident.

20. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorPeople write it by accident constantly. That's what the internet is.

21. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorHank, I need you to confront the obvious with me. Nobody here has seen this video.

22. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorNot one of us.

23. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorSo the entire story is a headline wearing a costume made of punctuation.

24. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThe verdict. These are search-bait headlines. They are built to catch people typing a famous name, and they caught us.

25. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorEarlier today, Gloria said an emoji is not corroboration.

26. 

    Gloria Vance · World News AnchorAnd I stand by it. The sun was never going to testify.

27. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThree minutes, a corkboard, and the case is closed by a plus sign.