If you’re searching Twitter for news about the Barcelona terrorist attack, you may come across a few pictures of cats.
On Thursday, gruesome photos and videos started flooding Twitter in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Barcelona that killed 13 people and injured more than 100 others.
However, some Twitter users decided to share images of cats instead of the graphic photo taken of the Las Ramblas rampage and a second attack in the coastal town of Cambrils.
The images of felines began spreading online after Spanish police warned social media users not to share photos and videos of victims.
Distressing images were being tweeted alongside hashtags like #Barcelona, #LasRamblas and #Cambrils. So users started to use pictures of cats alongside the hashtag to help prevent graphic images of the victims from being spread on social media.
Users also started posting the cat images to confuse suspects following police hashtags to find out more about ongoing investigations. One Twitter user said: “If the terrorists are following the hashtag to gather police info, they only see cats.”
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Another user wrote: “We will post cute cat photos so that the murderers do not exploit the blood spilled and the pain caused.”
This trend was also used in Brussels in 2015, following the terrorist attacks in Paris. The city was on lockdown, and authorities asked people not to disclose details about police activity on social media. Cat pictures then flooded the Twitter world.
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