Case: Delta Airlines
On December 21, 2016, the X user (Twitter) @omgAdamSalehpublished multiple videos on his profile, claiming he was being ejected from a Delta Airlines flight with his friend. In the videos, Adam Saleh accused the airline employees and several passengers from the plane of racism and discrimination.
Screenshot from X-account @omgAdamSaleh
Saleh claimed that he and his friend spoke Arabic, which made some passengers uncomfortable and made them complain to the airline staff. As a result, the airline employees asked Saleh and his friend to leave the plane. One of the videos Saleh posted went viral on social media, garnering several million views on X and Facebook within hours. The incident sparked public outcry, with accusations of Delta discriminating against Arabic-speaking passengers. Soon, the hashtag #boycottDelta began trending on X, attracting significant media attention.
However, assessing the information provided by Adam Saleh in the video requires investigating the essential context that was revealed later. This context is crucial for accurately reconstructing the story that took place on the plane.
DSC principles and questions to investigate the Delta Airlines incident
The DSC principles are an adaptable toolkit for investigating online sources and can be used to critically reconstruct the events that unfolded on the Delta Airlines plane on December 21, 2016. To do this, it is recommended that questions related to tendency, interpretation, duality, relations, omission, and self-assessment be first adapted to this specific incident.
Below, we provide you with questions one could ask about the story Saleh posted on his X account. Try to answer the questions before you see our answers. Compare your answer to ours and see how it affects your understanding of the story.
You can reveal our assessment by clicking the arrows at the beginning of the answers.
Who is @omgAdamSaleh, and what interests or agendas might he have in spreading this information?
A quick check of the account @omgAdamSaleh or a simple Google search reveals that Adam Saleh is not your average citizen. He’s a YouTube influencer known for producing “pranking” videos, including involving airline companies. In these videos, Saleh intentionally creates situations likely to elicit extreme reactions from people. He then captures these moments and uploads them as entertainment. Therefore, while his experience with Delta Airlines may be genuine, his profession as a prankster necessitates additional scrutiny of his video content. We need to verify that he’s capturing authentic situations, not staged or manipulated situations to attract online followers.
How do the technological features of X influence the message Adam Saleh conveys?
The Twitter video offers limited possibilities for the audience to receive comprehensive information within its immediate context. Instead, the nature of social media promotes the perspective of a single user who appears to be personally involved in the incident.
Does Adam Saleh provide a factual account of the story, or does he offer a specific interpretation of the events?
In addition to being biased in his storytelling, Adam Saleh clearly makes assumptions and promotes his interpretation of the situation rather than presenting facts. For instance, he concludes that his eviction from the plane was due to the racism of several passengers and the Delta Airlines staff.
Do the content of the video and Saleh’s written description align with each other?
Next to the form of the information spread, the content of the source material also reveals important discrepancies in terms of Saleh´s intentions and the events occurring. His video caption claimed that the airline removed him because he spoke to his mom on the phone in Arabic, urging Twitter users to spread his story. However, the only evidence supporting his version of events comes from his own interpretation of what occurred on the plane.
Is the topic Saleh addresses in his story emotionally and ideologically divisive? How do the source and the source material relate to the broader context of the issue of racism?
A key point for analysis is how Saleh’s video fits into the broader context of racially motivated discrimination cases, including those involving airline companies. Airlines, including Delta, have faced multiple allegations of ejecting people of color or those with ethnic backgrounds based on unsubstantiated claims. In this context, Saleh’s video is more likely to mobilize negative public opinion against a company already accused of racially charged incidents. Therefore, it is important to investigate how Saleh’s story might have a relation to the broader issue of systemic racism and discrimination against Arab-speaking passengers.
Can there be different perspectives and accounts of the events that took place on the plane? Does the online source material include such accounts?
A central question in Adam Saleh’s story is not what information he provides but what information he omits. These omissions highlight why his video cannot be relied upon as a sole source of information. For instance, the video does not include the perspectives of other passengers on the flight nor the views of the Delta Airlines employees involved in ejecting Saleh and his friend.
Which part of the incident is recorded in Saleh’s video, and what is missing?
In addition to omitting various accounts from different individuals involved in the incident, it is crucial to note when the video recording begins. The video only shows the moment when Saleh and his friend are being ejected from the plane, leaving unclear what happened before Saleh started recording and what motivated the Delta staff to remove the passengers.
After answering the questions related to the DSC principles, before checking our assessment, how would you evaluate the content of Adam Saleh´s video? Does the information he spreads hold considering the critical examination of his tendencies, interpretations, form, and the content of the video, as well as how he relates to other information sources and information missing from the video?
Click here to see our assessment based on DSC principles
To sum up, Adam Saleh’s identity as a prankster, his interpretation of Delta Airlines’ decision as racially motivated, and his connection to the systemic problem of racism, along with his omission of important parts of the incident, raise legitimate questions about the reliability of the online material he produces. Later revelations, based on accounts from various eyewitnesses, proved that the story was more complex. It involved Saleh’s “disruptive and provocative behavior” on the plane, which led to passenger complaints and Delta Airlines’ decision to rebook him on another flight. Thus, although Saleh’s video was not fabricated, it showed signs of dramatization, primarily through his interpretation and omission of the full account of events.