A screenshot of a purported tweet made by Qatar Airways is being shared on social media claiming it is the Qatar Airways response to the ‘BycottQatarAirways’ trend on Twitter. The purported tweet refers to the Twitterati trending ‘BycottQatarAirways’ hashtag as Brainless Bhakts and asks them to learn to spell ‘Boycott’ first. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Screenshot of the Qatar Airways tweet responding to the ‘BycottQatarAirways’ trend on Twitter.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is a morphed one. Qatar Airways did not make any such tweet in response to the ‘BoycottQatarAirways’ or the ‘BycottQatarAirways’ trends on Twitter. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched to check whether Qatar Airways had made any such tweet responding to the ‘BoycottQatarAirways’ and ‘BycottQatarAirways’ hashtags trend on Twitter, we could not find any such tweet on the official Twitter handle of Qatar Airways.
When the tweet in the screenshot is carefully observed, one can notice that the alignment of text and profile picture is not the same as that of a normal tweet. The purported tweet shared in the post attached a screenshot of the ‘BycottQatarAirways’ trend on Twitter and then added the #BrainlessBhakts hashtag below the tweet. But, a normal tweet does not display the hashtag below the attached image or video.
The recent Twitter analytics of the ‘BycottQatarAirways’ hashtag trends in India can be seen here and here.
In the wake of the Qatar government’s demand for a public apology from the Indian Government over the BJP spokesperson’s comments on Prophet Mohammed, several Twitter users trended ‘BoycottQatarAirways’ and ‘BycottQatarAirways’ hashtags saying that Qatar is the same nation where Maqbool Fida Hussain, an Indian artist who had made nude and obscene photos of Hindu deities, was given citizenship in their country. But Qatar Airways Airways did not respond to these boycott hashtags trends on Twitter.
To sum it up, a morphed tweet is being shared as Qatar Airways response to the ‘BycottQatarAirways’ trend on Twitter.
