A tweet congratulating India on receiving the first batch of Rafale aircraft by a parody Twitter account impersonating French President Emmanuel Macron, is going viral on the micro-blogging platform.
India received the first batch of five Rafale aircraft on July 29, 2020, that were inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the Ambala airforce airbase.
The viral tweet which has garnered around 3,800 retweets and comments reads, "Congratulations INDIA. Finally We have delivered first batch of Rafale Jets to you."
Congratulations INDIA ๐ฎ๐ณ
โ Emmanuel Macron (@MacronEmmauel) July 29, 2020
Finally We have delivered first batch of Rafale Jets to you.
๐ซ๐ท๐ฎ๐ณ
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Another tweet by the parody account congratulating India on the Rafale jets dispatched from France had gone viral gaining around 7,300 retweets and comments.
Congratulations INDIA
โ Emmanuel Macron (@MacronEmmauel) July 27, 2020
Rafale on the way . ๐ซ๐ท๐ฎ๐ณ
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Several Twitter users fell for these tweets assuming it was French President as the Twitter handle has the same profile photo on Macron's official Twitter handle.
Thanks a ton Mr. President, the entire 1.3Bn people of India thanks you๐๐ป๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ณMere sight of Rafale landing has caused hiccups to many neighbors ๐๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ปIt's advanced EWS, avionics and BVR capabilities makes Rafale a deadly beast in the sky; ready to roar!!
โ Bibhash Jha (@bibhashbjha) July 30, 2020
Also Read: Rafale Jets To Arrive In India Today: All You Need To Know
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the Twitter account (@MacronEmmauel) is a parody account as its bio states that it. The bio of the accunt reads, "Parody .President of France". Additionally, the account is not verified and was created in January 2020.
The account had a total of 22 tweets and had also retweeted the official Twitter account of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Parody account's timeline
A string of parodies: From Putin To Macron
On scanning the previous replies by this account, we found that it was previously imitating Russian President Vladimir Putin and before that Aaj Tak anchor Shweta Singh.
The account handle name was (@VladimirPutin78), and it had replied to a tweet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a telephonic conversation with Putin. It had tweeted saying, "Russia always with India my friend @narendramodi ji", and the replies to this tweet showed that it's handle name was different before.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
The cache of the account where it was named 'Vladimir Putin' had a bio that read, 'President of Russia parody'.
Cache of the previous handle name
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On scanning the relies to (@VladimirPutin78), we found that the account was before that impersonating Aaj Tak anchor Shweta Singh with the handle name (@SwetaAT_) and had named itself Sweta Singh with the bio that read, "(Parody )AC Journalist at Aaj Tak || Nationalist || Proud Indian . Jai Hind."
Click here to view an archive.
This showed that the account had a history of impersonating other twitter handles and was continuously changing its handle name after famous personalities.
Additionally, we also checked President Macron's official Twitter account which is (@EmmanuelMacron) and found that he had not tweeted anything on India receiving the first batch of Rafale aircraft.
Offical account
Click here to view the timeline
BOOM has previously debunked tweets that had gone viral tweeted by parody accounts of world leaders lending support to India in the backdrop of rising tensions between India and China.
Also Read: 'Stand With India': Tweets From Fake Netanyahu, Trump Handles Go Viral