ALTERED: This TIME Magazine cover featuring Donald Trump is doctored
The original cover has a visible ‘M’ in the word TIME.
This image on Threads purportedly of a TIME Magazine cover featuring former US President Donald Trump with the headline ‘If He Wins’ is ALTERED.
“One version of the recent cover of @time featuring Trump. I like how the ‘M’ behind his head gives him devil horns. Coincidence? I think not,” reads the text accompanying the image.
The purported TIME Magazine cover has the headline “If He Wins.” Notably, Trump is vying for re-election in the November 2024 presidential polls.
The cover is purportedly for the 27 May 2024 edition.
Additionally, Trump’s head is strategically placed in front of the letter ‘M’ in the word “TIME,” giving the illusion of red horns.
Trump also shared the cover on his verified account on the Truth Social platform before deleting it, as captured here.
But, is the cover original?
PesaCheck conducted a keyword search to verify whether TIME had previously published an edition featuring the headline “If He Wins.” The search yielded an article on the magazine’s website, which corresponds to the cover under scrutiny.
However, unlike the post being analysed, the ‘M’ in the word “TIME” in the edition from the search results is more prominent in this version and does not give the impression of horns on Trump’s head.
The article led us to another post where the original cover was published.
PesaCheck looked into the image on Threads purportedly of a TIME Magazine cover featuring former US President Donald Trump with the headline ‘If He Wins’ and found it to be ALTERED.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Flavia Nassaka and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editors Mary Mutisya and Cédrick Irakoze.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.
