🇸🇾🇺🇸⚠️BREAKING: The prisoner CNN helped free from a secret facility in Syria was allegedly Salama Mohammad Salama, a former first lieutenant in Syrian air force intelligence accused of committing war crimes, including torturing those who refused to pay bribes.
The footage of journalist Clarissa Ward leading the man to freedom went viral, with CNN describing it as “one of the most extraordinary moments” in Ward's career.
CNN later acknowledged, “We have been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity,” and stated they are continuing to look into the matter.
🇸🇾🇺🇸⚠️BREAKING: The prisoner CNN helped free from a secret facility in Syria was allegedly Salama Mohammad Salama, a former first lieutenant in Syrian air force intelligence accused of committing war crimes, including torturing those who refused to pay bribes.
The footage of journalist Clarissa Ward leading the man to freedom went viral, with CNN describing it as “one of the most extraordinary moments” in Ward's career.
CNN later acknowledged, “We have been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity,” and stated they are continuing to look into the matter.
Either way, Durov says that he withdrew his resignation but that he was ousted from his company anyway. Subsequently, control of the company was reportedly handed to oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Igor Sechin, both allegedly close associates of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Additionally, investors are often instructed to deposit monies into personal bank accounts of individuals who claim to represent a legitimate entity, and/or into an unrelated corporate account. To lend credence and to lure unsuspecting victims, perpetrators usually claim that their entity and/or the investment schemes are approved by financial authorities. A Russian Telegram channel with over 700,000 followers is spreading disinformation about Russia's invasion of Ukraine under the guise of providing "objective information" and fact-checking fake news. Its influence extends beyond the platform, with major Russian publications, government officials, and journalists citing the page's posts. At its heart, Telegram is little more than a messaging app like WhatsApp or Signal. But it also offers open channels that enable a single user, or a group of users, to communicate with large numbers in a method similar to a Twitter account. This has proven to be both a blessing and a curse for Telegram and its users, since these channels can be used for both good and ill. Right now, as Wired reports, the app is a key way for Ukrainians to receive updates from the government during the invasion. On February 27th, Durov posted that Channels were becoming a source of unverified information and that the company lacks the ability to check on their veracity. He urged users to be mistrustful of the things shared on Channels, and initially threatened to block the feature in the countries involved for the length of the war, saying that he didn’t want Telegram to be used to aggravate conflict or incite ethnic hatred. He did, however, walk back this plan when it became clear that they had also become a vital communications tool for Ukrainian officials and citizens to help coordinate their resistance and evacuations.
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