U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah K. Jones retired from Twitter on Monday after tweeting out false information on civilian casualties of a bombing raid by military forces of the internationally recognized Libyan government:
Terrible news today from #Tarhouna where 8 innocent displaced #Tawergha killed in air strikes. This violence serves no one's interests.
— Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) March 23, 2015
Her tweet was picked up by Western media as the primary source for the information. See this Reuters article:
Eight civilians were killed in an air strike near Tripoli on Monday, the U.S. ambassador said, as Libya’s internationally recognized government pressed on with an assault to recapture the capital it abandoned to a rival faction last year …
“Terrible news today from Tarhouna where eight innocent displaced Tawergha killed in air strikes,” U.S. Ambassador Deborah Jones said in a tweet, referring to members of a minority group, thousands of whom were displaced after Gaddafi fell.
“This violence serves no one’s interests,” said Jones, who is based outside Libya since most diplomats were evacuated from Tripoli last year.
It turned out that the information was based on rumors and conflicting information from both sides:
The eastern chief of army staff said in a statement its planes had hit a Libya Dawn barracks, not a Tawergha camp, demanding an apology from Jones.
But Mohamed al-Tarhouni, spokesman of the town’s municipality, said nobody had been killed in the strike which he said had hit an empty farm near a camp of displaced Tawergha.
Jones and Louai El-Ghawi, an eastern lawmaker, said there were reports that several family members of a colonel opposed to Libya Dawn had been killed in Tarhouna in an apparent revenge attack, but details were unclear. The eastern chief of staff said Dawn supporters had killed eight members of the family.
A freelance reporter on the scene found nothing describing the info that Jones had tweeted out:
@SafiraDeborah I saw by myself 3 impacts of the airstrike, I can guarantee no one was killed because of it 1/2
— Mathieu Galtier (@mathieu_galtier) March 23, 2015
The Libyan Army condemned Jones’ statement:
Libyan Army condemns US Amb. Jones tweet on Tarhuna considers it support for terrorism. #Libyahttp://t.co/8EfHTudbFM pic.twitter.com/l6qf39vEqR
— Alwasat Libya (@alwasatengnews) March 23, 2015
Libyan Twitter users then began attacking the ambassador for floating false information:
False information from the US ambassador, especially after being sensationalized in the media, has naturally generated a firestorm in #Libya
— James Wheeler (@wheelertweets) March 23, 2015
The back-tracking then began in earnest:
My last tweet based on sources on both sides. Numbers may need correction but bottom line remains: violence serves no one.
— Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) March 23, 2015
This info followed info on the other strikes: both are wrong and we condemn both. The violence must cease. Period
— Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) March 23, 2015
But the damage had been done, and she announced her departure from Twitter:
I have concluded it is best to cease efforts to communicate via Twitter insofar as it distracts from our goal of peace & stability 4 #Libya
— Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) March 23, 2015
We shall continue to post official statements on our embassy FB account. To all those responsible & thoughtful Tweeps out there, thank you
— Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) March 23, 2015
Getting to know thoughtful, dedicated Libyans via Twitter has been an inspiration & given me great hope 4 Libya's future. I wish you well.
— Safira Deborah (@SafiraDeborah) March 23, 2015
Thus, America is even getting run off of Twitter.
@BBCtrending US ambassador to #Libya @SafiraDeborah quits twitter! Her tweet created a storm of criticism by Libyan tweeps! #Twitter war
— Youssef Sawani (@YoussefSawani) March 23, 2015
Have any other US ambassadors pulled out of Twitter before? Is @SafiraDeborah the first? I remember when the embassy in Cairo clamped down.
— Andy Carvin (@acarvin) March 23, 2015
Smart diplomacy in action. I blame that YouTube video.
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