Thoughts of World War III have taken over Twitter following the death of Iran Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who died in Baghdad after a U.S. airstrike.
The hashtags #WWIII, #WW3 and #WorldWarThree are currently leading the Twitter trends as thousands of people weigh in for better or worse on the situation. #WWIII alone closed in on 2 million tweets by Friday afternoon — besting such typical daily topics as #fridayfeeling and #fridaythoughts.
The phenomenon itself has attracted global media attention, with multiple news organizations citing the trends.
“Fears of an upcoming World War III have already started doing the rounds of social media,” noted News 18, a CNN International affiliate based in India.
’World War III’ trends globally,” said The National, an English language publication based in Abu Dhabi which called the social media trends “ominous.”
“Britons waking up on Friday morning were met with an array of apocalyptic trending terms on social media platform Twitter,” reported Yahoo News UK, which said Google inquiries for “World War III” had also spiked in Britain.
Talk of a third world war has been percolating in the media for months. News organizations have explored different scenarios for an ultimate conflict, and the resulting political fallout for President Trump and U.S. allies.
“World War III: How Likely Is It U.S. Will Fight in Iran, North Korea, Syria, Ukraine or Venezuela?” asked Newsweek in mid-June.
“When World War III happens, it will start in one of these five places,” noted The National Interest in October.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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