A doctored image falsely shows Pete Buttigieg in leather suit

A photo shared on Facebook falsely shows Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg dressed in a black leather suit and standing on the street posing for a picture alongside two other men.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

PolitiFact ran reverse image searches and found the original photo, which does not include Buttigieg. The picture found on Pinterest does not identify who’s in it; it only says it’s from a Folsom Street Fair.

The Facebook photo was edited to replace the face of the person originally in the photo with an image of Buttigieg’s face.

We rate the doctored Facebook photo Pants on Fire!

By

Miriam Valverde

Assistant managing editor

February 21, 2020

Truth-o-meter Ruling

Pants on Fire!

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• Image is edited and not a real picture of Pete Buttigieg.

• The Facebook photo was edited to replace the face of the person originally in the photo with an image of Buttigieg’s face.

Statement

Says image shows Pete Buttigieg in a leather suit posing with two other men.

Context

a Facebook post

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Facebook posts

Statement Date

February 8, 2020