Earlier this week, Burkinabé’s General Staff announced the dismantling of three terrorist bases in eastern Burkina Faso during operations between June 14 and 16. But in the networks, a counterfeit account circulates along with photos that have nothing to do with this news. Images of victims of terrorism are used for propaganda purposes. Chronicle produced in collaboration with Solène Gardré from EPJT, Tours public school of journalism.
The tension linked to the terrorist attacks that are increasing in Burkina Faso contributes to the manipulation of information in the networks, as we have seen this week. The infox is then spread from actual elements that have been recycled and transformed to produce an alternative story, focused on goals other than informing the public.
This Monday, June 21 Burkinabè staff communicate on the fight against terrorism was conducted from 14 to 16 June. The official statement quoted by AFP reports a duty of eleven jihadists killed in eastern Burkina Faso. The staff specifies: “weapons, ammunition, several motorcycles and means of communication have been restored”.
False revelations and instrumentalization of the victims
In the process of networking, another story begins to circulate, with images illustrating these shots, to which are added the images of several people lying on the ground, their bodies full of bullets, accompanied by this message: “Never seen before in Africa Burkinabé attacks army terrorists in full training of Europeans. […] Thirty terrorists were killed, including three clearly identified French […] To date, neither Western radio nor the French government have commented on the massacre. ”
The message circulates in this form on WhatsApp, and we find it in slightly modified versions, but with the same photos, on Tweeter. One of the publications goes so far as to mention the DGSE’s involvement and condemn “Françafrique”. Many French-speaking websites use this story.
The benefits of reverse image search
But a simple reverse image search, (if you open this link, click on the photo icon and enter the file containing the image) allowing the manipulation to be detected. The search engine finds the very first events of the photo on the internet. By taking a screenshot of the received images on WhatsApp, we see that the images used do not correspond to the story that is conveyed in the networks.
Most of these images – a series of motorcycles and ammunition, the bodies of three men full of bullets – have nothing to do with recent events. They were first published on 26 and 27 April.
The men lying on the ground have indeed been identified, but they are not French foreigners, which can be read in the posts that are passed on on Twitter and WhatsApp. In fact, they are led by two Spanish journalists and an IrishmanNGO Chengeta Wildlife,defending wildlife. The international press was interested in their fate on April 27, when they were found dead, murdered by terrorists in ambush against the anti-poaching unit they were accompanying.
They were looking to shoot a documentary on animal welfare. They followed a patrol of Burkinabè soldiers and foresters in an operation against poaching. Contrary to what the authors of the posts on Twitter and WhatsApp claim,media reported this incident. There were testimonies from their relatives and a statement from the Spanish Prime Minister when the bodies were found. There is therefore no reason to present them as “Europeans working to train terrorists” except for propaganda purposes.
This is not the first time the images of the bodies of these victims have been cut in this way. May begins, a Nigerian website publishes them as an illustration of an alternative story. This time it is about conveying these people that Europeans killed during an operation by the Nigerian army against Boko Haram terrorists. This time, the author of the article presents them as men who supplied weapons to Boko Haram. The murder of the three Europeans was therefore instrumentalised on an English-speaking website before being transferred to French more than a month later in a completely different context.
The infox brand
Even before verifying the authenticity of these publications, several clues indicate that the content may be falsified. The message announces the color with this formula: “Never seen in Africa”! Its authors promise to reveal something extraordinary that no major media has published. It is often the trademark of infox. The goal is above all to attract the eye to links that then lead to questionable websites, mixing the true and the false. They act as click traps to generate advertising revenue.
The goal is twofold: to make money, but also to propagate – sometimes – anti-French propaganda, or otherwise, for the benefit of third parties. The difficulty is being able to go back to the source, which a network like WhatsApp does not allow. It is inherent in its business, it is its economic model.
WhatsApp allows, through its encryption, a high degree of confidentiality, but what makes it its strength is also its weak point, the platform thus makes it possible to pass on and reinforce infox without being able to discover the original author of the management.
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