I'm monitoring the situation in Baghdad. There is going to be a lot of unverified and bad information shared, particularly on WhatsApp. If you're in a group that's being flooded with info, please DM or email me: jane.lytvynenko@buzzfeed.com
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These photos seemed to have originated on WhatsApp before continuing to spread on Facebook and Twitter. Original source is unknown and they're unverified.
If you know the original source, please DM or email. Verifying something that came from WhatsApp is very difficult.
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This tweet does not prove that Eric Trump was aware of what was going to happen. He seems to be quote-tweeting an announcement of the Marines arriving to protect the US embassy in Baghdad: military.com/daily-news/201 The tweet has since been deleted.
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⬆️Additional note on Eric Trump tweet: PolitiTweet didn't archive it in full. It was a quote-tweet of a video. This is important context.
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Inauthentic coordinated behavior on Instagram:
twitter.com/KaranKanishk/s
This Tweet is unavailable.
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Here's a great thread looking at the unverified photos I posted above & putting them in the context of other media. Warning: A couple of photos in this are graphic.
Quote Tweet
So what do we know so far?
- Soleimani is dead as confirmed by multiple governments and sources
- We have a corpse we can 100% confirm is at the scene and appears to be wearing a blue jacket
- Appears corpse has no arms
- Arm blew off from corpse, appears to wear navy jacket
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Iran is an extremely sophisticated disinformation actor. Here's fantastic research from on some of their tactics in the past:
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Forgot to number previous debunks. Starting now.
4. There have been no official reports of the US marines arresting any members of the Iraqi parliament. The account that make this claim later said it was incorrect.
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5. Reports of troop deployment are starting to trickle in. Be mindful of falsehoods surrounding that. 👇
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These soldiers will join a battalion of about 750 that arrived in Kuwait on Thursday. They are w/ the 82nd Airborne Division's "ready brigade," which is trained to deploy quickly.
Note: The entire 82nd is NOT deploying. Those tweets are out there. Pump the brakes on that.
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6. Note that the reports of missiles hitting a US base are unconfirmed, stem from chat apps
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Replying to @farnazfassihi
I just called the Iraqi army 7th division commander who is based there, he completely denied it
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7. This is not a video of the drone strike that killed Soleimani. This video is from at least 2017 (source: downvids.net/america-isis-h) and it's of an attack helicopter, not a drone.
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8. This graffiti has nothing to do with Soleimani's death either 👇
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On the opposition front, look at this "Well done, Trump" graffiti on a wall in Iran which was retweeted thousands of times indicating ordinary Iranians were thankful for the killing. The photo is from May 2018 and has nothing to do with Gen Soleimani's assassination
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9. This video, spread by anonymous pro-Trump accts, is also not of the drone strike that killed Soleimani. It's from a 2014 iOS game called AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron (source: youtube.com/watch?v=clL9yZ)
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⬆️That video has been used before in a false context by anonymous pro-Trump accounts.
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10. This photoshopped image of Obama has been around since at least 2013 per Google Image Search 👇
twitter.com/AaronBlake/sta
This Tweet is unavailable.
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⬆️ In 2015, BuzzFeed News reported on the fake Rouhani-Obama image after it was used for a TV ad in the US
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⬆️ Gosar has responded defensively to reporters noting the inauthenticity of the image.
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11. This account has been commenting on the situation in Iran and getting a lot of engagement. But last year reported that it's a fake persona: theintercept.com/2019/06/09/hes
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12. No, Soleimani's daughter Zeinab is not a US citizen. Let's dig into this one a lil bit. This false claim is spreading across social platforms:
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