A Satirical Fabricated Tweet Surfaced Amid Elon Musk’s Firing of Parag Agrawal
The Claim
“Assad must go,” tweeted Parag Agrawal via his official Twitter account.
News posted on
Emerging story
Following Musk's Twitter takeover, social media users shared an image purportedly showing a screenshot of Parag Agrawal's tweet: “Assad must go." The screenshot allegedly shows Agrawal's official, verified, Twitter account.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar has investigated the claim and found it to be satirical.
The Claim Originated From a Satirical Website
We ran a Twitter advanced search with the keywords "Assad," "must," and "go," but there were no results.
After conducting another search, we were unable to locate the alleged tweet on the Wayback Machine.
However, a Google search for "'Assad must go' + 'Parag Agrawal'" revealed a 2021 post on iFunny with the same alleged screenshot.
iFunny is a satirical website that features memes submitted by users.
Parag Agrawal Subject to Satirical Content
The ex-Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal, has been subject to satirical claims using the alleged fabricated screenshot and Bashar Al Assad’s images.
Many media outlets reported that Elon Musk fired Parag Agrawal and several other top executives after Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.
According to the BBC, "Mr. Agrawal and two other executives were escorted out of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters on Thursday evening."
“Behind the scenes, however, Agrawal tussled with Musk, eventually forcing him into a stunning legal battle that ultimately pushed him to follow through on his original bid to buy Twitter,” Forbes reported.
A series of tweets and messages exchanged between Musk and Agrawal previously sparked criticism and drew internet users' attention to how the two men communicated.
Misbar has debunked a number of misleading and satirical claims regarding Elon Musk's Twitter purchase.
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