RTTue, 07 Aug 2018 12:09 UTC
A Saudi Arabian social media creative group has published a picture of an Air Canada flight moving towards the CN Tower, accompanied by a warning to the Canadian government.The picture was produced by a group called @Infographic_KSA, which
describes itself as a project "managed by a group of Saudi youth who are interested in technology and social media Facts backed by numbers & evidence". Its online presence is mostly on
Twitter,
Instagram and Telegram.
The poster was produced amid a diplomatic
spat between Canada and Saudi Arabia over Ottawa's criticism of the Arab kingdom's treatment of human rights activists. It shows the picture alongside a message: "Sticking one's nose where it doesn't belong! As the Arab saying goes: 'He who interferes with what doesn't concern him finds what doesn't please him'." There are also versions in languages other than English.
Screenshot from the @Infographic_KSA Instagram page
The work doesn't clarify what exactly would not please the Canadians, but the connotation with the terrorist hijacking of planes and ramming them into the World Trade Center towers didn't escape many Twitter commenters.
As the controversy unfolded, the tweet was swiftly removed, as were the pictures on Instagram.
The group later issued an apology, explaining that
"the aircraft was intended to symbolize the return of the ambassador. We realize this was not clear and any other meaning was unintentional."The image of CN tower in Toronto was then reposted, but without the plane in its upper right corner.
However, a few hours later, the Saudi Ministry of Media has ordered the shutdown of the @Infographic_ksa account on Twitter, pending investigation of the complaints filed against the group.
Comment: Further reading:
'Progressive' Saudis freeze trade with Canada, expel ambassador in 'human rights' rowUpdate: Sputnik
reports:
On Monday morning, a verified Saudi infographics twitter account seemingly threatened Canada with a 9/11 style attack amid a diplomatic standoff between Riyadh and Ottawa.
The group deleted the tweet later in the day and posted a different version of the infographic, without the passenger plane flying towards the CN Tower in the Toronto skyline.
They also issued an apology for how the tweet was interpreted, but insisted it was not meant as a terror attack threat to Canada.
"Earlier we posted an image which was inappropriate, which is why we deleted the post immediately. The aircraft was intended to symbolize the return of the ambassador, we realize this was not clear and any other meaning was unintentional. We apologize to anyone who was offended," KSA Infographics said in a statement.
The group's twitter account (@Infographic_KSA), which had over 350,000 followers, has since been deleted, though it's unclear it Twitter suspended the account for violating its terms of use or if the account's administrators deleted it due to the public backlash the tweet unsurprisingly generated.
Comment: Further reading: 'Progressive' Saudis freeze trade with Canada, expel ambassador in 'human rights' row
Update: Sputnik reports: