The photo shows Donald Trump raising his fist after an assassination attempt.
Facebook has admitted it wrongly marked a widely shared image of Donald Trump as “altered.” Facebook’s algorithms discovered the image, which shows Trump raising his fist in the air after an assassination attempt, and labeled it as potentially misleading. Platform X users claimed the photo was marked as modified on their accounts. Facebook responded by saying that impartial fact-checkers had investigated an identical image and found it to be false.
Dani Lever, public affairs director at Meta, explained to X that the labeling was incorrect. Facebook’s internal technical system was intended to detect a different version of the image, not Trump’s iconic photo. Facebook has expressed its regret about the error and any misunderstanding it may have caused.
“This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo of Secret Service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been resolved and we apologize for the wrong,” wrote Lever.
This was a mistake. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo of Secret Service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been resolved and we apologize for the error. https://t.co/y613GuuJpV
— Dani Lever (@Dani_Lever) July 29, 2024
Lever then confirmed the error Fox News digital asked for comment.
The altered image Lever was referring to showed Secret Service members surrounding Trump smiling. Many media outlets previously fact-checked the images as ‘altered’, although this confirmed the accuracy of the original image.
None of the officers in the original image are smiling as they surround Trump, who has blood on his face and his right arm in the air. The image – which was captured by Associated press photographer Evan Vucci and distributed by the AP — appeared with coverage of the shooting by many legitimate news outlets.