Over the weekend, Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez became the victim of doctored footage which showed her ripping up the US Constitution at the hands of right-wing propagandists.
On Saturday, the 18-year-old delivered a speech to crowds at the #MarchForOurLives protest, and then stood in complete silence until she had been on stage for six minutes and 20 seconds – the amount of time it took the shooter to kill 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
However, videos of Gonzalez tearing up a gun-range target have been lifted from a Teen Vogue story about teen activists. The images have been photoshopped to show her ripping up the Constitution, widely viewed as the supreme law of the US.
It is believed the altered images were created to spread propaganda that liberal activists like Gonzalez are trying to destroy the very identity of the US.
Here is the original footage:
Here are the doctored images:
Creators of the photoshop job have also been accused of whitewashing Gonzalez, making her eyes appear darker and changing the shape of her head.
The animation was shared across conservative US Twitter accounts on Saturday afternoon, following the #MarchForOurLives protest in the US capital.
Actor Adam Baldwin even tweeted the clip to a quarter of a million followers with a hashtag reading '#Vorwärts!', which is the German word for 'forward' and an apparent reference to the Hitler Youth, whose march song included the phrase.
Unfortunately, the doctored footage appears to have gained more traction than the original images.
However, it has also resulted in several celebrities and liberal activists calling out the fakes online, warning for the public to stay vigilant when it comes to fake news.
Last month, Twitter revealed it was actively taking down tweets abusing and harassing Parkland survivors who have suffered a torrent of insults since speaking out against current gun-control regulations in the US.
The news comes amid an announcement that BBC journalists including Huw Edwards and Tina Daheley are to visit schools to teach children how to identify fake news.
The initiative has been designed to tackle false information that the corporation says 'threatens fact-based public debate and trust in journalism'.
This serves as a poignant reminder not to believe everything you read or see online.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
