In today’s time, it is understandable that when people are bombarded with information on multiple platforms, they tend not to care whether the information is legitimate or not.
However, on Wednesday, Pakistani Twitter users – including journalists – were perplexed after a popular verified Twitter account turned out to be a fake one.
Amidst the heated political discourse in Pakistan as Panama Papers probe takes interesting twists, a Twitter account with the username Nate Hendrick kept trolling Pakistani politicians and people.
Claiming to be ‘journalist by passion’ and Asian correspondent for Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the account’s followers include notable journalists from Pakistan who fell for it.
When Googled, it emerged that the profile picture of the account belongs to a person called Nathan Preston who according to a Linkedin profile is a marketing specialist at Hendrick Lexus Charlotte, a North Carolina-based firm. Also, there exists no journalist by the name of ‘Nate Hendrick’ who serves as a correspondent for Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a Russian publication.
The revelation came as a bombshell for people – including journalists – who fell for the fake account and have been retweeting its tweets.
https://twitter.com/EshalMirza/status/882625181281263616
https://twitter.com/omar_quraishi/status/882625928911765504
https://twitter.com/Arbucks/status/882581319049506816
https://twitter.com/salmanmasood/status/882615966168952832
https://twitter.com/ashesskhan/status/882640749849853952
Nate’s tweets on Pakistani politicians have been liked and retweeted more than thousand times and seriously taken as political commentary.
https://twitter.com/NateBUSSEY59/status/882517049586491392
https://twitter.com/NateBUSSEY59/status/882514743314886660
