Wallström targeted by Russian Twitter attack
Fake statements attributed to Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström have been posted by Russian Twitter accounts, reports Aftonbladet.
Wallström is scheduled to meet with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow later this month.
According to the embassy, a false quote, claimed to have come from a question and answer session at Lund University, has been retweeted a hundred times.
The quote, originally in Russian, translates to: "Living in the civilised world: Sweden's foreign minister calls for castration of white men".
The Swedish embassy in Moscow has now taken to Twitter itself to counteract the false tweets.
Внимание: Фейк!#Швеция #Sweden #фейк #Дезинормация pic.twitter.com/UwB6zWjCtw
— Sweden in Russia (@SwedeninRU) January 17, 2017
Warning: Fake! Reads a tweet posted by the Swedish embassy with a screenshot of an article using the offending quote.
Several similar tweets are said to have been posted, reports news agency TT.
"There is a problem with misinformation and quite a lot of inaccuracies about Sweden and Swedish politicians are unfortunately being spread. Sometimes it is a case of innocent trolling but there is also a certain amount of genuine misinformation designed to distort and create a negative image of Sweden. This is naturally a serious problem," Wallström's press secretary Pezhman Fivrin said to Aftonbladet.
Comments
See Also
Wallström is scheduled to meet with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow later this month.
According to the embassy, a false quote, claimed to have come from a question and answer session at Lund University, has been retweeted a hundred times.
The quote, originally in Russian, translates to: "Living in the civilised world: Sweden's foreign minister calls for castration of white men".
The Swedish embassy in Moscow has now taken to Twitter itself to counteract the false tweets.
Внимание: Фейк!#Швеция #Sweden #фейк #Дезинормация pic.twitter.com/UwB6zWjCtw
— Sweden in Russia (@SwedeninRU) January 17, 2017
Warning: Fake! Reads a tweet posted by the Swedish embassy with a screenshot of an article using the offending quote.
Several similar tweets are said to have been posted, reports news agency TT.
"There is a problem with misinformation and quite a lot of inaccuracies about Sweden and Swedish politicians are unfortunately being spread. Sometimes it is a case of innocent trolling but there is also a certain amount of genuine misinformation designed to distort and create a negative image of Sweden. This is naturally a serious problem," Wallström's press secretary Pezhman Fivrin said to Aftonbladet.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.