New Delhi: An image of a ‘terrorist involved in Paris attack' went viral on social media on Saturday which was even ran by mainstream media in France only to be discovered later that it was a photoshopped image of a Canadian Sikh's bathroom selfie.
Veerender Jubbal on Saturday woke up to the nightmare when he found out that his image had gone viral. In the photoshopped image, he was seen holding a Quran in his hands and wearing what appeared to be a suicide vest.
The image spread quickly after the Friday's Paris attacks and was published on the front page of one of Spain's largest newspapers and used by two Italian newspapers.
An Italian TV channel with nearly 2 million Twitter followers also posted the image.
The image, which was hugely circulated on Saturday afternoon, was also by Khilafah News, a pro-Islamic State group. Several posts described Jubbal as a “Sikh convert to Islam”.
However, some social media users were more conscious than others and did some research. They found that the digitally altered image was based on a bathroom selfie of Jubbal from August. In the original photo, he is wearing a turban and holding an iPad in his hands.
Jubbal's first response came on Saturday when he posted on his Twitter account, “People are editing, and photoshopping my selfies as if I am one of the people causing the issues/problems in Paris.”
Next day he clarified further by saying, “You can all check the last retweets. Let us start with basics. Never been to Paris. Am a Sikh dude with a turban. Lives in Canada.”
Expressing his frustration, Jubbal said, “This whole thing puts me in a bad position in the sense, where I could be harmed and/or hurt due to this. This is libel from news, and TV.”
He pointed out on his Twitter that the altered image had spread to the point where others had to tweet that it was photoshopped.
He said he had a call from India as well, “Well, just got a phone call from a cousin in India, and they know about it; and saw the whole thing in India Times. We might sue, I guess.”
It is not yet clear who was behind edited image of Jubbal, several reports have suggested that it was his criticism of the Gamergate movement that made him the target.
He has also been suggested by many to sue the perpetrators which he said he is considering.
Although it isn't clear who edited Jubbal's image, reports have suggested that it was his vehement criticism of the Gamergate movement that made him the target for this particular smear campaign.
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