{"id":64856,"date":"2015-11-17T04:46:38","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T10:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=64856"},"modified":"2015-11-17T04:46:38","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T10:46:38","slug":"canadian-man-finds-himself-falsely-identified-as-paris-terrorist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/11\/17\/canadian-man-finds-himself-falsely-identified-as-paris-terrorist\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian man finds himself falsely identified as Paris terrorist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Veerender<\/a>
Veerender Jubbal’s photoshopped photo on the right<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO — A Canadian man is defending his name and reputation after he was falsely depicted as one of the masterminds of Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris.<\/p>\n

Veerender Jubbal took to Twitter after an altered photo of him began surfacing in international media with captions identifying him as a terrorist. A Spanish newspaper, La Razon, has since apologized for running the doctored picture.<\/p>\n

The original image of Jubbal was a selfie that showed him posing in his bathroom with the iPad in his hand that was used to take the photograph.<\/p>\n

But it was manipulated to show him wearing a suicide vest and holding a Qu’ran.<\/p>\n

Jubbal tweeted that the image had made its way onto the front page of La Razon with a caption identifying him as one of the suicide bombers that stormed the French capital on Friday, killling at least 129 people and injuring scores of others.<\/p>\n

He says it wasn’t long before people around the world, including family members in India, had seen the image and reached out to let him know about it.<\/p>\n

In addition to defending his name, Jubbal also criticized the photoshoppers for mistaking a Sikh for a member of the Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the co-ordinated attacks in Paris.<\/p>\n

“In gauging this entire incident — millions upon millions of people have seen the photoshopped images, and have placed me as a terrorist,” Jubbal tweeted, adding the “strange” situation has him pondering suing newspapers that published the altered image.<\/p>\n

The case highlights how vulnerable today’s online citizens are, said Melonie Dodaro, a Kelowna, B.C.-based social media consultant. Even non-controversial content can become dangerous in the wrong hands, she pointed out.<\/p>\n

“The Internet’s the Wild, Wild West,” she said. “There are not a lot of things you can do to protect yourself.”<\/p>\n

Jubbal retweeted messages of support that decry the picture’s potential consequences.<\/p>\n

“Portraying ?Veeren–Jubbal as a terrorist puts his life at risk, ruins his reputation. This is online terrorism,” wrote one Twitter user.<\/p>\n

Others openly mused about the racial mix-up and wondered whether they could be subjected to similarly arbitrary typecasting.<\/p>\n

“As a white European living in England, should I worry that I have recently grown a beard?” another Twitter user asked him.<\/p>\n

Other tweets documented some of the backlash that came Jubbal’s way after the picture first surfaced.<\/p>\n

“Can’t believe people told ?Veeren–Jubbal one way of avoiding being photoshopped to look like a terrorist is to not post selfies online.”<\/p>\n

Jubbal wrote that he watched his name and image become a globally trending topic on social media, adding that other publications besides the Spanish newspaper had reprinted the image.<\/p>\n

Amid the social media posts detailing the incident, Jubbal issued a message to those who altered the image.<\/p>\n

“Learn the difference between me being a Sikh and a Muslim,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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