Altered photo of Canada's Freeland at Toronto Pride spreads online
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 5, 2022 at 22:11
- Updated on July 5, 2022 at 22:56
- 3 min read
- By AFP Canada
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"Invite the kids!" says a June 28, 2022 tweet that includes an image of Freeland and another politician appearing to pose with a naked man during Pride Toronto. The tweet tagged Freeland and Ontario MP Patty Hajdu.
The image circulated amid rising attacks on the LGBTQ community in Canada and the United States. AFP previously reported on renewed disinformation targeting groups sponsoring Drag Queen Story Hour -- literacy events that have faced backlash in Canada.
But the image is altered. The Twitter user that shared the photo, George Hampton, admitted it was not authentic.
"Of course this is photo-shopped," Hampton said on Twitter two hours after the initial post.
On June 29, Hampton also tweeted: "I don't photoshop images to fool or mislead people, just to ridicule politicians etc for a laugh."
However, replies to the original post indicate some people took the image seriously.
Responses to the tweet also pointed out that the second woman in the image is Carolyn Bennett, Canada's minister of mental health and addictions -- not Hajdu.
On June 26, 2022, the Toronto MP shared the photo of herself with Freeland on Twitter. The image does not show a naked man.
Another altered version of the image shows Freeland wearing a pink sex toy.
"If you don't mind, George, can I join the Photoshop extravaganza too?" said a Twitter user in a June 28 response to Hampton's original post.
That image spread to TikTok, Facebook and Instagram in a screenshot of what appears to be a tweet from Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu of Ontario.
The tweet is not live on Gladu's official account, but several social media users shared screenshots of the purported post on June 30, 2022. Gladu has not responed to AFP's request for additional comment.
AFP has debunked other claims about Canada here.
July 5, 2022 This article was updated to add an archived link to the original tweet from George Hampton in the second paragraph.
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