Before Donald Trump's mug shot dropped, fakes circulated online
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 25, 2023 at 22:40
- Updated on April 29, 2024 at 17:21
- 3 min read
- By Natalie WADE, AFP USA
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"TRUMP MUGSHOT RELEASED," says Brian Tyler Cohen, a progressive American YouTuber, in an August 24, 2023 Facebook post.
The supposed mug shot spread widely on Instagram, TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter. But the image is not the one that authorities at the Fulton County Jail released.
The former president on August 24, 2023 appeared at a Georgia courthouse on racketeering charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, setting the stage for a fourth criminal trial next year as he runs to reclaim the White House.
During a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, posted on X at the same time as the Republican primary debate, Trump dismissed the indictments as "nonsense."
In the hours leading up to his arrest, mug shots of his co-defendants went public, escalating anticipation as social media users awaited the picture of the former president -- the first in US history to face criminal charges.
That evening, Trump posted his mug shot on Truth Social and X, his first post on the latter platform since January 2021. The Fulton County Sheriff's Office also released the photo to media organizations including AFP.
It differs from those that spread online.
A reverse image search indicates the picture of Trump wearing a striped tie and an American flag pin was originally taken by a Reuters photographer at the White House on November 20, 2020 (archived here). The photo appears to have been superimposed on a background resembling Trump's actual mug shot.
It was not the only fake mug shot to circulate online -- an image of Trump fabricated using artificial intelligence (AI) resurfaced despite being previously debunked.
"Donald Trump mugshot just dropped, W or L?" says an August 23 X post.
The photo shows discrepancies typical of AI-generated imagery, including the nonsensical text on the wall and blurred details around the former president's head.
AFP has previously debunked other AI-generated photos of Trump here and here.
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