Salman Rushdie asks Twitter to remove Islamophobic comments falsely attributed to him

Falsified quote was circulated on social media

Rushdie in 1996 (AFP/Getty)

Salman Rushdie has spoken out after an Islamophobic quote that had been falsely attributed to him circulated on Twitter.

On Thursday (6 August), the British-Indian writer reshared the post, which featured a picture of Rushdie alongside a quote claiming to have come from him.

Rushdie’s falsely attributed quote said that the goal of Islam was to “destroy the whole nation by terrorism, bomb blasts, population explosion, riots and jihad”.

In response, Rushdie, 73, wrote: “This is a fake tweet, which seems to be circulating.

“I have never said anything of this sort. @Twitter @jack please note and take this down.”

Under Twitter’s guidelines, content that impersonated individuals or shared fake news with the intent to “mislead, confuse, or deceive others” is banned.

In the past, Rushdie has spoken out against “fake news”, accusing the White House of using digital misinformation as a weapon and claiming that “the entire force of the state is aimed against the fourth estate”.

The Midnight’s Children author described the White House as the place “from where all untruth flows”.

Earlier this week, Donald Trump’s campaign Twitter was forced to remove a post containing misinformation about Covid-19 before it was allowed to post again.