Emmanuel Macron: Outrageous images of the French President as a garbage collector go viral

In the last few weeks, many Internet users have had fun creating photomontages of the French President in all sorts of situations...

Emmanuel Macron in a yellow vest, as a garbage collector, sitting on garbage cans... Internet users do not lack creativity! For several weeks on social networks, very realistic photomontages have been circulating in the manner of press caricatures.

Emmanuel Macron sitting on garbage cans

According to AFP/BFMTV, these montages are made with Midjourney, a software 'able to generate realistic images from simple keywords'. Thanks to this tool, Internet users caricature and play with the news, making images of Macron in a yellow vest, as a garbage collector, sitting on garbage cans, or in the streets of Paris ablaze due to recent protests over his pension reform...

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'All you need is a descriptive sentence to ask Midjourney, the preferred tool for these creations, to make the image of your choice', says the media. If these very realistic montages amuse some Internet users, it is however necessary to be vigilant and not to fall into disinformation (fake news).

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Donald Trump arrested: Fake images cause confusion

More recently, it is the former US President Donald Trump who was the victim of very realistic photomontages. Indeed, Trump was photoshopped in the middle of being arrested, then in an orange jumpsuit in a prison. While Internet users usually specify that these are modified images, others do not, which creates confusion.

Some social networks have decided to better manage these fake images. TikTok, for example, is trying to reassure by changing its content management policy on March 21, 2023. The Chinese application now intends to prohibit the use of deepfakes made with AI. The social network said:

Although we give more latitude regarding public figures, we do not want them to become a subject of abuse or for people to be misled about political and financial issues

This article has been translated from Ohmymag FR.

Sources used:

BFMTV - 'Macron en éboueur, Trump en prisonnier: quand l'IA crée de fausses images d'actualité ultraréalistes'