A faked screenshot purporting President-elect Donald Trump called Rep. Maxine Waters “a pig” on Twitter stirred outrage Thursday night before it was debunked, but not before several users, including a correspondent for The Nation, lent credence to the doctored image.
The fake tweet, timestamped Thursday afternoon, referenced a brief interruption on C-SPAN that day when programming from Russian state television channel Russia Today was aired instead. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., was on the floor of the House when the feed was abruptly cut.
“Overrated Maxine Water [sic] cut-off by RT because she’s so unfair and terrible,” the faked tweet read. “C-SPAN made right call. Much improved viewing without that pig!”
Pissed pants at presser. Tough guy on Twitter.
— (((Jason Miller ❄))) (@costlylovewins) January 13, 2017
Waters (1994): “Men and women, the day is over when men can badger and intimidate women!" pic.twitter.com/wT1ZxFCuaz
Several Twitter users, including Joan Walsh, a correspondent for The Nation, responded to and shared the tweet — but the tweet was never sent by Trump at all, which CNN’s Brian Stelter pointed out early Friday morning.
The Nation's @JoanWalsh (and several other people) fooled by a fake Trump tweet. Trump never called Maxine Waters a "pig." pic.twitter.com/dUIQH9XrJ9
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 13, 2017
The screenshot contained several red flags suggesting it was not real. For one, the alleged image of the tweet lacked the blue check icon that Twitter appends to the names of verified accounts like Trump’s. The purported screenshot also showed Twitter’s retired “favorite” function with a star icon, which was replaced with a heart icon for “likes” in 2015.
Alleged tweets from Trump can now also be checked against multiple databases that log any tweets sent by the president-elect — even if they are deleted later. A search of one database showed no results for tweets about the California congresswoman, even with the misspelling used in the doctored tweet.
Walsh corrected her initial tweet after the screenshot was debunked, admitting that she “should have done a better job checking.”
Thanks @brianstelter. I stand corrected. Should have done a better job checking. Sad that it wasn't unthinkable @maxinewaters https://t.co/QWGd2b4DLs
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) January 13, 2017
Comments