When Photos Lie

Twitter was abuzz. This past March, a picture went viral, appearing to show teen gun control activist Emma González, a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, tearing up a copy of the U.S. Constitution (see photo above). The image prompted outrage, especially among gun rights activists.

The problem? The image was fake. A Twitter user had taken a photo of González ripping up a gun range target and used photo-editing software to replace the target with the Constitution.

The incident is one example of a fast-growing problem: phony photos. As tech tools once available only to pros become more accessible and sophisticated, just about anyone can alter photographs.

“You can manipulate people’s emotions and make them believe all sorts of things,” says John Silva of the nonprofit News Literacy Project.  

Many doctored images are meant to spread lies and stir up controversy. Russian operatives, for instance, filled social media networks with phony images as part of an effort to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. For example, as Donald Trump promised to crack down on illegal immigration and voters’ emotions ran high around that issue, a Russia-backed Facebook account posted a photo that appeared to show a woman and child at a pro-immigration rally with a sign reading “Give me more free [stuff].” The hackers had digitally altered an image from more than a decade ago. In reality, the woman’s sign read “No human being is illegal.”

Twitter was abuzz this past March. A picture of teen gun-control activist Emma González, a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, went viral. It appeared to show her tearing up a copy of the U.S. Constitution (see photo above). The image prompted outrage, especially among gun-rights activists.

The problem? The image was fake. The original photo showed González ripping up a gun-range target. A Twitter user used photo-editing software to replace the target with the Constitution.

The incident is one example of a fast-growing problem: phony photos. Tech tools once only available to pros have become more accessible and sophisticated. That means that just about anyone can alter photographs now.

“You can manipulate people’s emotions and make them believe all sorts of things,” says John Silva of the nonprofit News Literacy Project.

Many doctored images are meant to spread lies and stir up controversy. Russian operatives, for instance, filled social media networks with phony images as part of their effort to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. For example, as Donald Trump promised to crack down on illegal immigration, voters’ emotions ran high around that issue. In response, a Russia-backed Facebook account posted a photo that appeared to show a woman and child at a pro-immigration rally with a sign reading “Give me more free [stuff].” The hackers had digitally altered an image from more than a decade ago. In reality, the woman’s sign read “No human being is illegal.”

The fake image—crafted to reinforce negative stereotypes about immigrants—was shared hundreds of times.

Fake photos are hard to spot. In a study by the University of Warwick in England, people identified them only about 60 percent of the time. Research also shows that people are more likely to share images than plain text on social media, so phony pics spread quickly. Exposure to all those frauds can make us doubt real news photos.

Facebook, where many fake photos are posted, has expanded its fact-checking program to include photos and videos. But experts say the best defense against phony photos is you. “If you’re having a very strong reaction, that’s a warning sign,” says Silva. “You need to sit back . . . and start asking questions.”

The fake image was crafted to reinforce negative stereotypes about immigrants. Users shared it hundreds of times.

Fake photos are hard to spot. In a study by Warwick University in England, people identified them only about 60 percent of the time. Research also shows that people are more likely to share images than plain text on social media. That’s one reason why phony pics spread quickly. Exposure to all those frauds can make us doubt real news photos.

Many fake photos are posted on Facebook. As a result, the social media company has expanded its fact-checking program to include photos and videos. But experts say the best defense against phony photos is you. “If you’re having a very strong reaction, that’s a warning sign,” says Silva. “You need to sit back . . . and start asking questions.”