Photo of DeSantis Holding Anti-Biden Shirt Was Digitally Manipulated
The Claim
A photo depicts Florida Governor Ron DeSantis holding up a shirt that says, “Your mask is as useless as Joe Biden.”
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Emerging story
The claim went viral in August 2021. The photo was shared and liked thousands of times.
One post even called out fact-checkers and claimed to “inform the people of the truth.”
Misbar’s Analysis
DeSantis and President Joe Biden have been at odds regarding COVID regulations. DeSantis blocked mask mandates in Florida, which has seen record hospitalizations from the Delta variant. In response, Biden said of DeSantis and other right-wing governors: “If you’re not going to help, at least get out of the way of people trying to do the right thing.”
However, we discovered that the image of DeSantis holding the anti-Biden shirt was photoshopped. We conducted a reverse image search and found that it was originally posted on DeSantis’ Twitter account. The shirt promotes Popeyes’ new chicken sandwich.
