Screenshot of alleged tweet from Ethiopia's rebel spokesman is fake
Screenshot of alleged tweet from Ethiopias rebel spokesman is fake
(Reuters) -Ethiopian social media users have been duped into a sharing a fabricated tweet which they believe is written by the spokesperson of the main rebel faction at war with Ethiopia’s government. The alleged tweet says the rebel group would retreat from two key towns.
A screenshot of the alleged post from Getachew K Reda, the spokesman of the northern-based Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), can be seen: ibb.co/qyrTkk6.
Dated Nov. 5, 2021, it reads: “#Tigray Armed_Forces command Decided today #NOV_5_2021 that the TDF should tactically retreaded from @dessie and @kombolcha cities to the northern wollo zones! we will control those cities, if it is necessary, back!! #the_regime _must go!”
Reda did not respond to a Reuters request for comment by the time of publication. He did, however, issue a tweet saying the screenshot was falsified, saying is was an “amateurish effort”.
Reuters also did not find any such tweet when examining Reda’s account (twitter.com/reda_getachew). Nor did a Twitter advanced search reveal evidence of the alleged post (bit.ly/3ka4dRE).
Unless a tweet is deleted quickly, it would be expected to find replies from other users, which sit under a notice of a deleted tweet – especially with tweets that attract high engagement.
The screenshot shows the purported tweet gathered at least 3,000 likes and 2,500 retweets, which is higher than average engagement compared with Reda’s previous posts. However, Reuters could not find any evidence of users posting replies to a now-deleted post on Nov. 5.
Reda’s tweet history also shows that he writes in fluent English and is fully familiar with Twitter features, such as hashtags.
The screenshot uses poor grammar and punctuation, as well as a capitalized hashtag.
Reda has never used an underscore when using hashtags in his tweets, as seen twice in the fabricated screenshot.
Finally, the screenshot shows the alleged tweet was sent from an Android device. Between Reda’s first tweet on Oct. 20, 2020, and Aug. 8, 2021.
However, his subsequent tweets up to Nov. 5 were sent from an iPhone device.
VERDICT
False. A screenshot purportedly showing a tweet sent by the TPLF’s spokesman that says Tigrayan forces would retreat from two towns, is fabricated.
