This alleged Christmas card from ex-US President Donald Trump caused amusement on social networks.
The reason: the shirt of what was once the most powerful man in the world and his head remind many users of the shape of a penis.
The picture is shared by numerous anti-Trump accounts and commented a thousand times.
But the picture is a fake.
Donald Trump’s alleged Christmas card is a manipulated photo of the ex-president.
The photo was originally from a visit by the Trumps to the British royal family in June 2019.
To make Trump’s outfit look like a phallus, the lower end of his tailcoat was digitally rounded and the lapel straightened. Another indication is the poor image quality of the card. The pixelated picture does not match the usual quality of Christmas cards and looks out of date.
In the shop of his website you can see the real Christmas card of the controversial ex-president.
The case shows how quickly image manipulation can spread in social networks. A visit to Buckingham Palace turns into an absurd Christmas card.
How do we examine videos for manipulation in the editorial office? It is important to take a look at the details. The individual frames of a video often reveal whether a video has been edited. We take a close look at each picture and enlarge individual sections. Indications of a fake are, for example: lack of motion blur, unnatural shadows or cutting errors. At stern, the general rule is: Seriousness over speed. We always double-check facts and material carefully before we publish them. To do this, we work with the cross-editorial “Verification Team” together with RTL, NTV, RTL2, and Radio NRW.