Claims of Jaffna University students celebrating Prabhakaran’s 70th birthday: misleading
Several images circulating on social media allegedly showing students of the University of Jaffna cutting a cake to celebrate the 70th birthday of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, caught the attention of FactSeeker.
by Anonymous |
November 30, 2024
Many of these posts were based on a screenshot from an X (formerly Twitter) post published on November 26, 2024, on the Tamil Guardian website’s X page. The screenshot also included a link to the Tamil Guardian website.
In attempts to verify the images, it was observed that the X post had been removed from the account. However, a Google search using relevant keywords led to an article on the Tamil Guardian website, published a few days earlier, that featured thumbnails of the same images. Yet, this link was also later removed from the website.
Through a Google search using keywords from the X post, another X post drew our attention. It read, “Jaffna University students organized a cake-cutting event on campus to commemorate the 70th birthday of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.”
Using Google Lens for a reverse image search on the photos shared in this post, we found that the images corresponded to a similar event held in 2018, marking the 64th birthday of Prabhakaran. The following reports provide additional context:
- https://www.bbc.com/tamil/sri-lanka-46340668
- https://sundaytimes.lk/online/news-online/jaffna-university-students-mark-prabhakarans-birthday/2-1056048
- https://www.tamilarul.net/2018/11/jaffna-university.html
- https://jaffnazone.com/news/6749
- https://www.facebook.com/274286272733315/posts/1089849124510355/
Accordingly, FactSeeker confirms that the images circulating on social media claiming that Jaffna University students recently cut a cake to commemorate the 70th birthday of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran are misleading.