Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Viral Photos
Occasionally, against all odds, you’ll see an interesting or even enjoyable picture on the Internet. But is it worth sharing, or just another Photoshop job that belongs in the digital trash heap? Check in here and find out if that viral photo deserves an enthusiastic “forward” or a pitiless “delete.”
DELETE
In an effort to explain Megyn Kelly’s exsanguinating cross-examination of Donald Trump at last week’s GOP debate, some of the candidate’s supporters suggested a possible hidden agenda with this photo, supposedly showing the Fox News reporter posing with Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and his unnamed, niqab-clad sister.
As Snopes reports, however, the image is just a Photoshopped version of a picture taken at The Hollywood Reporter’s “35 Most Powerful People in Media” event last April.
Additionally, if one were to actually “GOOGLE IT!” as the image implores, they’d quickly learn that Prince Al-Waleed is far from being “the co-owner” of Fox News.
In reality, Al-Waleed’s Kingdom Holding Company has a reported 6.6% interest in 21st Century Fox, the News Corp. successor that owns the company’s former entertainment assets, including Fox News, 20th Century Fox and the Fox television network.
Images via Twitter/AP Images//h/t Snopes
DELETE
On Tuesday, popular image-pirating account @SciencePorn tweeted this picture of the Moon “kissing the ocean,” which was soon re-shared by thousands.
But as @PicPedant and others noted, the Moon should appear red and distorted this close to the horizon, as seen in a legitimate photos of a rising full moon.
In her original upload, creator Vivienne Beck makes no effort to hide the fact that the image has been manipulated, saying she went “a little loony playing with the moon.”
FORWARD
This heavenly image recently shared by NASA, on the other hand, is the real deal, despite attempts by several amateur astronomers to debunk the GIF.
On Wednesday, The Verge posted a detailed explainer addressing some of the most common quibbles with the photos, including the absence of a shadow (the Moon isn’t passing between the Sun and Earth), Earth’s seemingly stationary clouds (cloud structures move slowly) and the relative size of the two bodies as seen by NASA’s DSCOVR satellite (the satellite is hundreds of thousands of miles away from both objects).
DELETE
As many (hopefully most!) suspected, this viral image of “the world’s smallest cat” currently making the rounds on Facebook again is a fake, the result of a Photoshop contest held almost 10 years ago.
Mr. Peebles, on the other hand, is a real animal reportedly crowned the “Smallest Living Domestic Cat” by Guinness in 2004.
The actual Mr. Peebles, however, is significantly larger than the mouse-sized mouser seen above, measuring 6.1 inches tall and 19.2 inches long, tail-included.
