A picture of John Swinney shared online has been digitally altered (PA)

Fact check: Picture of John Swinney has been edited

By Will Grimond, PA
15:09 - July 04, 2024

(Updated, adding more details about process in paragraph 3)

A post on X, formerly Twitter, shows SNP leader John Swinney in central Glasgow with an anti-SNP slogan written in chalk on the wall behind him.

Evaluation

The slogan has been digitally added to the picture.

The facts

A reverse image search shows that an SNP staff member uploaded a series of pictures of leader John Swinney in central Glasgow on June 29. The third of these shows the same picture, but without the offending graffiti.

The edited image appeared on X shortly afterwards.

On closer inspection, the text appears to be written in a default font available on Microsoft applications – ‘Chiller‘ – as evidenced by matching characters. This further suggests the text was added after the picture was taken.

Links

Post on X (archived)

Reverse image search

Original image on X (archived)

Chiller font – Wikimedia commons (archived)

Election Check 24

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