Social media users tricked by satirical image of a tractor towing a space rocket
Such a post is in line with the account's previous tweets of a satirical nature.
(Reuters) - A tongue-in-cheek social media post about a Ukrainian farmer intercepting a Soyuz spacecraft with his tractor has duped some into believing the claim is real.
Twitter handle ‘Sputnik_Not’, a play on the name of a Russian state-owned news agency, posted a photoshopped image on March 9 of a tractor towing a rocket. The image is captioned: “BREAKING: Ukrainian farmer steals Soyuz rocket”.
— Sputnik (@Sputnik_Not) March 9, 2022
Such a post is in line with the account’s previous tweets of a satirical nature, including a March 10 post about Kyiv farmers hunting Russian submarines, and a photoshopped image of a farmer – also in a tractor – attempting to tow a Russian warship.
This appears to be a nod to unverified reports of Ukrainian farmers taking equipment from Russian troops, which have spread widely on social media since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.
However, numerous social media users appear to have misinterpreted the satirical intention of the Sputnik_Not tweet.
In the comments of one Facebook post sharing a screenshot of the tweet, a user wrote: “Well done to these farmers glad to seem them fighting back and claiming what’s there’s now”.
Another credited the photo to Russia’s Sputnik news agency.
However, the real image does not include a tractor and was taken by NASA in 2018. It shows the Soyuz rocket being transported by train to the launch pad in Kazakhstan, prior to its expedition to the International Space Station.
VERDICT
Satire. The tractor was photoshopped onto the 2018 image.
