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Twitter accounts push propaganda photos of Turkish soldiers
As Turkish forces launched assault in northern Syria, social media users propagated images of Turkey’s soldiers hugging, cradling or feeding children.
But none of those images actually reflected the ongoing offensive in northern Syria. Some weren’t of Turkish soldiers. None of them were recent and some had been taken in other countries.
Experts say the false and misleading posts promoting Turkey appeared to get a boost from a coordinated network of Twitter accounts that amplified the content through trending hashtags and retweets.
The online campaign follows a pattern of social media propaganda that seeks to sway global opinion when controversial, international events erupt.
The images began making the rounds after US President Donald Trump’s widely criticized withdrawal of US troops opened the way for the Turkish offensive against Kurdish-led forces.
In this June 14, 2015, file photo a Turkish soldier offers water to a Syrian refugee child after crossing into Turkey from Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey. As Turkish forces invaded northern Syria in early October 2019, supporters of the offensive launched an online misinformation campaign. Dozens of misleading images claiming to show Turkey’s soldiers cuddling babies, feeding hungry toddlers and carrying elderly women spread across Twitter and Instagram where they were liked, retweeted and viewed thousands of times. They included this photo, which was, in fact, shot by an Associated Press photographer in 2015. (AP)source:The Associated Press
