鈥淔ake News鈥. Two words, which in recent years have become synonymous with Donald Trump, who has often used the term to criticise the media.
Now, following the events of the weekend, where the former president survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania, we're seeing a whole host of fake news being spread on social media.
From digitally altered and manipulated images to misinformation and conspiracy theories, how can you tell the facts from the fake?
Manipulated images
Raising his fist in defiance, moments after the shooting, the image of Trump below has instantly become an iconic photo that鈥檒l no doubt feature in history books for years to come. But even a picture as notable as this can be used to deceive and spread misinformation.
In this original photograph, Trump is surrounded by security personnel as they shield the former president. Members of Trump鈥檚 security team are clearly not smiling, in contrast to the altered image, where smiles have been digitally added. The manipulated photo gained thousands of views on X, however many correctly called this out as fake. With photo editing software and AI tools so readily available at our fingertips, it鈥檚 now easier than ever to manipulate images.
How to check if an image has been manipulated:
- Find the picture on a trustworthy news site. Reliable news sources will only publish images that have been fact-checked.
- Apply common sense. Do you have any doubts about the image?
- Image source, AP
Image caption, Original image of Donald Trump and the Secret Service.
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Context and timelines
As well as manipulating images, using unedited photographs out of context is another way misinformation has spread following the shooting. This post on X which features a photo of Trump driving a golf buggy has the caption "Imagine getting shot at 7pm and still making your 9am tee time". The post has been seen more than 11 million times and has over 300,000 likes, but the caption is incorrect. The photo was taken nearly two years ago in September 2022 at a Trump National Golf Club.
How to check if a photo is being used in the correct context:
A reverse image search can be used to identify other places on the internet where the photo exists. By clicking on results from reliable news sources, you can see whether the image is old or related to a different news story by checking the date the image was posted.
If the image appears on social media, then have a look at previous posts from the user and their bio or 鈥榓bout鈥 section to help you find out why they might be sharing the image.
Conspiracy theories
In recent years The Simpsons has become famous for supposedly predicting world events years before they happen, but did The Simpsons predict Trump鈥檚 assassination attempt? The answer is no. Variations of this image, of Trump鈥檚 Simpsons character laying in a coffin, have circulated online since at least 2017, but an executive producer for the cartoon told news agency Reuters that 鈥渢he image of Donald Trump in a coffin never appeared on The Simpsons. It is doctored鈥.
Following the shooting, several variations of this image circulated on X and TikTok, with the most popular collectively gaining over 2.5 million views.
Fact-checking images:
- This could be tricky to fact check. However similarly to above, using Google Lens reverse image search will show you whether the image has been used previously. Unless you鈥檙e certain the image is legitimate, it鈥檚 important not to re-share, as you could unknowingly be spreading misinformation.
Not sure if the news you鈥檙e seeing on social media is true or false? Can you always tell if the things you see online are real or fake? Learn how to get the other side of the story with our quizzes, videos and explainers.
