Edited visuals of Chinese military misattributed to AFP
- Published on September 12, 2025 at 10:08
- 7 min read
- By Anne CHAN, Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
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"A picture of a soldier in the snow published in AFP's series 'The Forbearance of an Empire' has created a cold and restrained atmosphere," reads simplified Chinese text over a Douyin video shared September 2, 2025.
"The sombre 'Drittes Reich filter' created a sense of coldness and solemnity ... Exposure was lowered, while contrasts were increased so the image brings more impact."
The clip, which received more than 1,000 engagements, includes images of China's army and national flag. The claim also spread on Douyin, Weibo, YouTube, X and TikTok, with many posts mentioning a supposed "AFP filter".
A montage of clips with a similar style showing soldiers, tanks and fighter jets at a military parade spread September 4 on Douyin, gaining more than 24,000 likes.
The simplified Chinese caption reads: "The AFP filter is needed to bring out that military parade vibe. Absolutely awesome."
The video and similar claims circulated on TikTok, Facebook and X.
China held a massive military parade in Beijing on September 3 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, attended by President Xi Jinping and foreign leaders including North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Russia's Vladimir Putin (archived link).
Comments indicate some users believe the social media posts show original AFP images of the event.
"They wanted to smear China, but have done the opposite by accident," one user wrote.
Another said: "Why do they have to tamper with it?"
AFP photographer Fred Dufour took one of the pictures seen in the posts, which shows a soldier whose face is hidden behind a flag at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in April 2016.
But the original has a more natural tone -- and the agency has not published a photo series called "The Forbearance of an Empire."
The agency's editorial standards and best practices forbid "excessive lightening, darkening or blurring" and "excessive colour manipulation" of images. Only minimal Photoshop adjustments, including basic colour correction, subtle lightening or darkening of zones, sharpening and dust removal are allowed in the field -- particularly in poor lighting conditions (archived link).
AFP previously debunked another claim that the agency edited photos in a similar style to discredit the Chinese army in 2023.
Getty photos
Reverse image and keyword searches show most of the other visuals attributed to AFP online were originally published by other outlets.
A photo of a soldier standing guard in the snow was taken by Kevin Frayer, an independent photojournalist, for Getty Images in 2014 in Beijing. The original is brighter than the version shared online (archived link).
Frayer also took another picture circulating in the false posts, which shows troops marching in formation. The version shared online was also darkened from the original taken during a 2019 parade (archived link).
AFP distributed unedited versions of both images.
Chinese state images
Further searches show Chinese state outlets or the government published other pictures shared in the false posts. All of the originals appear lighter than the versions shared online.
State broadcaster CCTV published scenes of soldiers marching under the Chinese Communist Party flag and next to aircraft in a livestream of the September 3, 2025 parade (archived link).
AFP distributed similar footage of the parade without the colour tuning seen in the false posts (archived link).
CCTV also published a clip of troops marching in the desert as part of its coverage of a 2017 parade held to mark the People's Liberation Army's 90th anniversary (archived link).
Further searches show the state news agency Xinhua published photos of an officer giving out orders and soldiers shouting in unison as part of a gallery of the September 3, 2025 parade (archived link). AFP distributed the latter image.
Another picture of soldiers running toward transport cargo planes appears around seven minutes into a video that China's defence ministry published in 2024 (archived link).
Finally, an image of soldiers that appear to stare at the camera comes from a Douyin post shared February 22, 2024, which identified it as AI-generated (archived link). The account has previously published other fabricated visuals of soldiers (archived link).
AFP has debunked other claims related to China's September 2025 military parade here.
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