Image courtesy of WingsOfRedemption Twitch
Amidst the social-media furore around the crisis in Afghanistan, an image of American streamer WingsOfRedemption has this week been circulated as that of a murder victim in Afghanistan.
Fake news accounts — copy-catting BBC News, CNN, and MSNBC — circulated the image of WingsOfRedemption, real name Jordie Jordan, on Twitter, stating that he was a journalist killed by Taliban insurgents in Kabul. All three accounts have since been suspended.
Images of Jordan were also circulated after the Beirut explosion last year.
What’s more, in Jordan’s own words, the name attributed to his image by the fake accounts, when spoken aloud, is a racial slur with the first name Bernie. Jordan has been accused of racism in the past as well as various other wrongdoings.
It is believed that WingsOfRedemption’s online trolls are responsible for the lie. Not the most beloved online personality, the American streamer is infamous for his toxic streams and questionable beliefs on various sensitive subjects.
Furthermore, in typical social-media fashion, commentators used the fake news to suit their own agendas without checking facts. Popular conservative commentator Steven Crowder, on his website ‘Louder with Crowder’, used one of the fake tweets to criticise Joe Biden’s policy decisions in Afghanistan.
