On September 11, 2023, a Georgian-language Facebook user published a post about former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to Lviv. According to the post, Boris Johnson was awarded the title of an honorary doctor by the University of Lviv, and during the ceremony, the university leadership and the former prime minister gave a fascist salute to the students. Also, the attached photo shows Boris Johnson with the professors with their right hand raised at about a 45-degree angle. An identical photo was shared by a Russian-speaking Facebook user (1) and news agencies (1, 2).
The photo spread on the social network was altered and distributed by a Ukrainian humorous Telegram channel. On September 9, 2023, at an event held at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Johnson and the rector and professors standing next to him did not make a Nazi gesture while greeting students.
On September 9, 2023, the former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, became part of the academic community of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. The ceremonial reception and awarding of the former prime minister took place at the meeting of the academic council of the university, where he was awarded an honorary doctor’s degree. Before the celebrations, Boris Johnson and the rector of the university, Professor Volodymyr Melnyk, spoke about the importance of further rapprochement between the Ukrainian and British peoples, as well as discussed the values that unite Ukraine, Great Britain and the whole civilized world and oppose barbarism and aggression. The event was covered by a number of media (1, 2) and distributed photos and video material depicting the ceremony. The photo posted on the social network, in which Johnson is standing to the right of the rector of Lviv University with his hand raised at a 45-degree angle, is an altered version of a photo shared by Telegram channel ZAHIDWTF 24/7.
On September 9, the Telegram channel Smak published an edited version of the photo depicting the ceremony with the following text:
“Photo of the day: Boris Johnson congratulates the students of the National University of Lviv on the start of the academic year with a traditional Galician gesture, showing that the movement on the ladder of knowledge should only go up.”
In Telegram Channels and Chats Directory (uk.tgstat.com) Telegram channel Smak belongs to the Humor and Entertainment category. The channel itself indicates in its description: “Exclusively (un)true, no manipulation of public opinion (sometimes mimes). And most importantly, delicious and scary.”
It should be noted that the same channel also published the original version of the photo, although the description of the photo was still humorous: “It would be better if I enrolled in the polytechnical university or the Catholic University of Ukraine,” commented the former prime minister.”
About the Source:
The Georgian-language Facebook user Eduard Jishkariani often spreads anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian content, including disinformation. “Myth Detector” debunked the false information spread by the user many times in the past.
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