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  • 2019-05-08 (xsd:date)
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  • No, this is not a real tweet from Australian Labor leader Bill Shorten (en)
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  • Multiple Facebook posts have shared a screenshot that purports to show a tweet from Australian Labor leader Bill Shorten which says: Immigration of people from the Middle East is the future Australia needs. The claim is false; the Twitter handle in the picture is different to Shorten’s verified account and there is no record of Shorten posting such a tweet. The misleading screenshot can be seen in this post which has been shared hundreds of times since it was uploaded to Facebook on May 5, when Ramadan started in Australia in 2019. The post contains a screenshot of what appears to be a tweet from Shorten saying: Immigration of people from the Middle East is the future Australia needs. The post’s caption says: Here it is, straight from the horses mouth... Just rember this come election time, god help us if he gets in!! #aussieseyeonaustralia. Below is a screenshot of the post: Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post Screenshots of the apparent tweet have also been shared here on a Facebook page called Australian Conservative Capitalist, gaining nearly 500 shares within 24 hours, as well as on a page called Make Australia Great Again, which has more than 10,000 followers. The purported tweet has also been shared on multiple other platforms, for example here on microblogging site Gab. But the purported tweet is fake; the Twitter account in the image is not the same as Shorten’s verified account. Labor’s election website features information about Shorten’s background and links to his social media accounts. Clicking on Bill on Twitter leads to a Twitter account with the handle @billshortenmp. The account, started in April, 2010, carries Twitter’s verified blue badge, which the social networking service says lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic. The tweet included in the misleading Facebook post was apparently tweeted from this account with the handle @Billshorten at 12:55 pm on May 4, 2019. As of May 6, 2019, the account has been suspended by the social networking company for violating its rules. Below of a screenshot of the suspended account: Screenshot of the fake Shorten Twitter account While both accounts show the same profile picture of Shorten and carry Twitter’s blue verified badge, the gap between the account name and the badge is wider on the fake account than the authentic one. Also, the badge shown on the fake account sports a lighter shade of blue than the real one. Below is a comparison of the fake (L) and real (R) Twitter accounts: Comparison between fake (L) and real (R) Shorten Twitter accounts A search of Shorten’s tweets posted between May 3 and 6, 2019, using the formula from:billshortenmp since:2019-05-03 until:2019-05-06, shows no evidence that the Labor leader posted the tweet included in the misleading Facebook post. No tweets were deleted from Shorten’s verified Twitter account @billshortenmp from April 1, 2019 to May 6, 2019, according to record here on Politwoops, an online tool that tracks deleted tweets by public officials. (en)
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