Australia tram photo doctored to add fabricated ad for Sri Lankan opposition leader

The picture was shared on Facebook here on June 26, 2023.

It appears to show a tram advertisement featuring Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, who heads the leftist opposition group National People's Power, alongside Sinhala-language text that reads "public meeting in Melbourne".

Dissanayaka led an NPP group on a tour of Australia in June and held several meetings with Sri Lankan expatriates residing across the country (archived link).

A block of Sinhala-language text embedded under the image reads: "It has cost 9 million rupees ($28,700) to display Anura Dissanayaka's image like this during his Melbourne visit."

The composite image also shows a purported invoice from Melbourne's Yarra Trams demanding payment of 44,550 Australian dollars ($30,000) for the advertisement (archived link).

"They raised issues against commemorating Independence Day, but they see no issue with wasting millions like this," the post's caption reads.

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Screenshot of the Facebook post captured on July 3, 2023.

The post appears to accuse the opposition group of hypocrisy after several opposition politicians, including Dissanayaka and coalition leader Sajith Premadasa, refused to attend celebrations for Sri Lanka's 75th Independence Day in February -- criticised by many as a waste of money (archived link).

The government spent an estimated $548,000 of public funds to commemorate the occasion even as the country grappled with a debilitating economic crisis (archived links).

The doctored image was also shared multiple times on Facebook here and here.

Comments left by viewers of the posts indicated they believed the image and claim were genuine.

"Behold the work of the NPP. For all you fools thinking NPP is different -- they are no better," one user wrote.

"Who advised you to run an ad campaign in Australia? Whoever it is, they have really taken the NPP for a joke," another commenter wrote.

In fact, the picture was altered.

Doctored image

A spokesperson for the Melbourne Tram company Yarra Trams told AFP they do not accept political advertising.

"We have confirmed that this advertising wrap never appeared on our tram network," the spokesperson said. "Furthermore, we do not accept political advertising on board our trams, regardless of a politician's country of origin."

NPP spokesperson Upul Ranjan also told AFP on July 3 the claim was false and that the party never launched advertising campaigns in Australia as seen in the doctored image.

A reverse image search on Google led to this corresponding photo published on Australian landscape photographer R.A. Stanley's website titled, "Melbourne Tram Passing Flinders Street Station" (archived link).

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Screenshot of the image published on the website captured on July 03, 2023

Below is a screenshot comparison of the altered image (left) and the original photo (right):

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Screenshot comparison between the image in the misleading posts (left) and the photograph that appeared on the photographer's website (right).