Putin's Russian Bot Behind False Claim Muslim Woman Ignored Victims Of Westminster Attack

19 November 2017

By Hayley Dixon

It was the image that divided social media in the hours after the Westminster terror attack as a Muslim woman apparently walked past victims whilst looking at her phone.

Now it can be revealed that one of the accounts which prompted the misleading image to go viral and fueled a racist backlash was actually a troll backed by the Russian Government.

It is one of a series of tweets from 2016 and 2017 which show for the first time how a network of Kremlin-backed accounts posted a number of anti-immigration and pro-Brexit messages around the time of the referendum and in the wake of major terror attacks.

In the case of the Westminster Bridge attack, the user @SouthLoneStar, who claimed to be a "Proud TEXAN and AMERICAN patriot", posted just one of a series of images of the women in a hijab with the message: "Muslim woman pays no mind to the terror attack, casually walks by a dying man while checking phone #PrayForLondon #Westminster #BanIslam".

The account has now been identified by Twitter in evidence to the US congress as being backed by the Russians.

The reaction that the tweet provoked at the time of the attack in March, in which five people were killed by Khalid Masood before he was shot dead by armed police, prompted the woman release a statement through Tell Mama, a group which monitors hate incidents against Muslims.

"I'm shocked and totally dismayed at how a picture of me is being circulated on social media," the unnamed woman said.

"To those individuals who have interpreted and commented on what my thoughts were in that horrific and distressful moment.

"I would like to say not only have I been devastated by witnessing the aftermath of a shocking and numbing terror attack, I've also had to deal with the shock of finding my picture plastered all over social media by those who could not look beyond my attire, who draw conclusions based on hate and xenophobia.

"My thoughts at that moment were one of sadness, fear, and concern.

"What the image does not show is that I had talked to other witnesses to try and find out what was happening, to see if I could be of any help, even though enough people were at the scene tending to the victims.

"I then decided to call my family to say that I was fine and was making my way home from work, assisting a lady along the way by helping her get to Waterloo station.

"My thoughts go out to all the victims and their families."

She also thanked photographer Jamie Lorriman, who had spoken out in her defence and pointed out that other photographs had shown she was visibly upset.

It was not the only time that the user @SouthLoneStar meddled in British affairs and after the EU referendum vote the account, which had 16,826 followers, tweeted: "I hope UK after #BrexitVote will start to clean their land from muslim invasion!" and "UK voted to leave future European Caliphate! #BrexitVote".

It was one of many accounts identified as Kremlin linked which were mainly focused on US politics but dabbled in wider issues in Europe. They have all been suspended by Twitter.

"There's this consistent and relentless focus on anti-immigrant sentiment, attacking Muslims in particular. [They are] making this sort of broad-brush, blanket link between Islam and terrorism," said Jonathon Morgan, CEO of New Knowledge, the security company which compiled the tweets.

The news comes as MPs prepare to begin an inquiry into Russian interference in British politics to which both Twitter and Facebook have been asked to give evidence.

Damian Collins, head of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee who is leading the inquiry, said that it showed Russian accounts were trying to "influence political debate in the UK and also to insight hatred and turn communities against each other".

"I think it shows that Russian-controlled accounts have been politically active in the UK as well as America," Mr Collins told Wired UK. "This could just be the tip of the iceberg because we've only really just started looking and doing a proper detailed study of what accounts linked to Russian organisations have been doing politically." 

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