'How Safe Is India?' Influencer's iPhone Experiment In Kerala Stuns Internet

A video circulating widely on social media by a German foreign influencer has caught the attention of Indian users. The influencer decided to run a little investigation in the southern Indian state of Kerala by placing a phone in public and seeing if anyone from the crowd would attempt to commandeer the abandoned device. The results have shocked many.

In the now-viral clip, the man can be seen looking towards the camera before placing an iPhone on a platform around 4:30 PM local time. He then proceeds to leave, only to return two hours later as the phone remains untouched. Few people did turn around and glanced at the unattended phone, but no one came for it, highlighting the civic sense.

"How safe is India??? Location: Kerala," the video was captioned by Younes Zarou on Instagram.

See the viral post here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Younes Zarou (@youneszarou)

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Internet circumspect

As of the last update, the video had garnered nearly 38 million views and thousands of comments. While a section of users applauded the Indian public, others were a bit circumspect about the video, stating that it may have been staged, especially given that the camera and other equipment were in view of the abandoned iPhone.

"This is parallel India," said one user while another added: "Come to my town, the phone will be gone in 10 seconds."

A third commented: "If you keep a big tripod and big camera in front. Then nobody will rob your phone.. Also, I am 100 per cent sure if someone had taken your phone then this video would never come, I know you want to show a clean side of India to gain more Indian audience, but at least show some reality."

A fourth said: "Meanwhile my phone was stolen from my pocket."

Popular influencers across the globe have been performing such experiments to gauge if a city is safe by leaving a valuable item unattended roadside for a long period of time.