That viral photo of Trump gazing at Putin is totally fake
There are plenty of awkward photos from the G20 summit. A big group of world leaders together in one room is bound to lead to a few cringy moments, right The thing is, some of the photos have to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Over the weekend the following picture — which appeared to show Trump and several other world leaders staring at Putin with rapt attention — went viral on Facebook and Twitter.
You can see from other photos taken of the conversation that "United Kingdom" has been photoshopped over with "Russian Federation", and Putin has been plonked on the empty chair.
Have you seen this viral photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin? It shows the authoritarian leader in the middle of an intense discussion between other world leaders at the G-20. But it’s completely fake. And the fakery has even inspired a meme.
Putin supporters have been circulating the image to make it look like the Russian president is in the middle of the action. But it’s bullshit. How do we know it’s fake? Because we have multiple camera angles on that exact moment from a variety of photographers.
The original image that has since been photoshopped was taken by Kayhan Ozer for Getty Images. Other photographers like Markus Schreiber for the Associated Press took some identical photos during the discussion.

As you can see, American leader Donald Trump is speaking with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The empty seat was for the UK’s Theresa May as Angela Merkel looks over their shoulders. Source: AP
It’s unclear who made the photoshop with Putin, but one of the earliest people to post the altered photo was Russian journalist and Putin loyalist Vladimir Soloviev. He’s since deleted the post from Facebook after getting ridiculed on the social media site.
And the good people of the internet have done what the internet does best when something has been found out as fake: They’ve made even more fakes.

(L to R) US President Donald Trump, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend a working session on the first day of the G20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, on July 7, 2017. Photo: AFP
US President Donald Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu talk during the working session at the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. Photo: REUTERS
