Artwork included in Epstein files misrepresented online
- Published on March 5, 2026 at 07:48
- 3 min read
- By Cintia NABI CABRAL, AFP France, AFP Middle East & North Africa
- Translation and adaptation Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
The US government's release of millions of pages related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has ignited a torrent of misinformation online, including posts claiming one redacted picture from the files depicts infant cruelty. The visual was digitally created by merging images of a naked man and raw poultry, its creator told AFP, and was part of an old advertising competition that highlighted animal cruelty.
"A redacted image from the Epstein files shows what appears to be a baby between two chickens. Other documents mention testimonies of cannibalism," reads a February 1, 2026 X post written in simplified Chinese.
The image shows a cutting board with uncooked chicken, and what appears to be a human leg circled in red. The other body parts are covered with black boxes.
Similar posts were shared in English, Arabic, Bengali, French, Spanish, Malayalam, Portuguese and Turkish.
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Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14 and was facing sex trafficking charges in New York when he died that could have sent him to prison for the rest of his life.
His death was ruled a suicide but, like much else around Epstein, is the subject of lurid conspiracy theories.
The US Justice Department's latest release of documents from its investigation into the wealthy financier highlighted his extensive ties to political and business elites -- although the mere mention of someone does not imply any wrongdoing (archived link).
But the millions of pages made public show at the very least connections between Epstein or his circle and certain public figures who have often downplayed -- or even denied -- the existence of such ties.
The Epstein files -- which included more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images -- sparked a flood of falsely shared visuals online.
The circulating image of the raw chicken was similarly misrepresented.
'Surprised and shocked'
A reverse image search found a post on X that linked to the document in the files containing the visual (archived here and here).
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A watermark at the bottom of the image reads, "Harald Seiwert".
A keyword search of the name found the original and unredacted work uploaded to the YouPic website by an account bearing the same name (archived link).
Contrary to the posts, it depicts a naked man lying on his back and not an infant.
According to the description, the image was taken in the Noord-Holland province of the Netherlands on March 14, 2002.
The caption says the image was an entry in an advertisement competition for the Italian Vegetarian Association in 2004, and a man named Matt posed for the photo.
AFP reached out to Seiwert, who confirmed the description of the image and said the model was a British friend in his mid-thirties living in Amsterdam at the time.
He said he used Photoshop to create a composite, and desaturate the man's skin tone to resemble the colour of poultry.
The artist added he was "surprised and shocked" to see his work included in the Epstein files, and it "saddened" him that it was falsely linked to cannibalism and child abuse.
"It confirms how easy many people nowadays jump to (conspiracy) conclusions," he told AFP on February 20, 2026.
"Someone approached me saying 'I don't believe you. Maybe there is more behind that photo'. My answer was: think about it. What photographer or artist would take an illegal or criminal photo and leave his/her name with copyright next to it?"
Seiwert sent AFP photos of a booklet published by the Italian Vegetarian Association which included the visual. He said the group approached him in 2004 to use the image for a campaign against animal cruelty and meat consumption.
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More of our work on misinformation surrounding Epstein can be found here.
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