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Tuesday, April 30, 2024  
21 Shawwal 1445  

Fact check: Was that picture of Greta Thunberg manipulated?

Swedish climate change activist arrested by Dutch police twice on same day during The Hague protests
Image via X/@OldRowSwig
Image via X/@OldRowSwig

Three days ago, Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg was arrested twice on the same day during The Hague protests. Greta being whisked away by police was the main picture of the stories. But one of the pictures on social media was not real.

A screen grab of her being taken away by police from the street went viral on social media. Upon fact-checking, it was found that the viral image was created by digitally manipulating a frame captured from a genuine video of Thunberg’s arrest.

The 21-year-old joined hundreds of protesters in a march against fossil fuel subsidies on Saturday. She was released later in the evening.

The protest devolved into a standoff as dozens of police officers, some on horseback, attempted to stop protesters from blocking a main road.

On Saturday, a social media platform X user @OldRowSwig posted a manipulated image of Thunberg alongside American actress Sydney Sweeney. The post garnered more than six million views and 44,000 likes.

In response to the post, a user @Big__TeeJ said that the activist’s image had been “digitally manipulated to inflate the size of her breasts.”

The actual picture was taken from real footage of Thunberg being dragged by police from The Hague protest.

News reports from Reuters, BBC, DW, and The Associated Press on the incident showed that the image was doctored.

 AFP
AFP

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