Fake Photo: Canadian Man Wrongly Accused of Being one of the Paris Suicide Bombers, Spanish Newspaper Apologizes - iMediaEthics

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The fake photo (left) with the original (right) (Photo via Grasswire)

A Canadian man, Veerender Jubbal, was victimized online when someone Photoshopped a selfie of him and claimed he was one of the suicide bombers responsible for the attacks on Paris Friday night. Making it worse, a pro-ISIS Twitter account re-tweeted the fake photo and the Madrid, Spain newspaper La Razon published the picture on its front page.

La Razon has apologized – on Twitter- for its serious error.

How did this all go so terribly wrong?

Back in August, Jubbal posted a selfie of himself in the bathroom. See it below. Jubbal, who is Sikh, identifies himself on Twitter as a freelance writer and journalist as well as an opponent of the GamerGate movement.  (For a brief overview of Gamergate, see our July story.)

 

Then this weekend, someone Photoshopped the iPad to look like a Quran, inserted a dildo in the background, and added a suicide vest to his body. The result? Now a fake photo of Jubbal links him to the horrible attacks that killed more than 130 people in Paris Nov. 13.

BuzzFeed pointed out several red flags that the photo was suspect. See below:

BuzzFeed pointed out several areas of the photo that should have raised red flags.

BuzzFeed pointed out several areas of the photo that should have raised red flags.

 

La Razon posted an apology on its Twitter writing:

“The image was even shared by one of the largest — though unofficial — pro-ISIS channels on Telegram, the app that the extremist group used to take credit for the attacks in Paris,” BuzzFeed added.

For his part, Jubbal’s been posting a lot on Twitter to respond to the misidentification and Photoshop.

Below is a selection of his tweets explaining his thoughts on this:

 

 

 

iMediaEthics has reached out to Jubbal on Twitter, but he noted in a tweet earlier that he was swamped with requests.
Hat Tip: Zeynep Tufekci

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Fake Photo: Canadian Man Wrongly Accused of Being one of the Paris Suicide Bombers, Spanish Newspaper Apologizes

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