Is it authentic?

Is the context accurate?

Is there evidence that proves the claim?

Is it based on solid reasoning?

Has it been posted or confirmed by a credible source?

This is not an authentic image from DeSantis’ high school yearbook. 

Genuine photos from DeSantis’ yearbook do not match this viral version. Furthermore, the AP confirmed that the quote is a fabrication. 

“No, Ron DeSantis’ high school yearbook quote does not mention ‘Sir-Mixes-a-Lot’” 

“DeSantis yearbook photo shared alongside a fabricated quote” 

No, Ron DeSantis did not refer to ‘Sir-Mixes-a-lot’ in high school yearbook

provide the quote “My Mount Rushmore is Jesus, Sir-Mixes-a-Lot, and Nintendo 64” for his high school yearbook.

An image supposedly shows Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ high school yearbook quote with the misspelled name of musician Sir Mix-A-Lot, a rapper famous for his 1992 hit Baby Got Back. It’s a real photo of DeSantis but the quote is a digital fabrication. Let’s look at the facts. 

No, this image was widely spread by partisan social media accounts. 

Old photos of politicians and celebrities, 

, are commonly used to spread misinformation — and they’re also frequent targets of digital doctoring. The unique provenance of this type of content (a nonpublic person may have easy access to a yearbook photo of a public person before they were famous) makes these claims feel plausible and ripe for manipulation. In this case, a Reddit user posted several genuine photographs from DeSantis’ high school yearbook. These authentic images went viral first, but one of them was then digitally altered to make fun of DeSantis, a presidential candidate, for supposedly being out of touch with popular culture while in high school.

People should be wary of social media content, especially 

, that include attack on political candidates. The 

 with a spokesperson for DeSantis’ school district that the image in this viral post is real, but the quote beneath it is not.

This is not a newly discovered photo that depicts Bigfoot.

This tutorial video teaches you the basics of doing a reverse image search.

Reverse Image Search Tutorial

Tutorial: Reverse image search

This image was removed from its original context, a clearly labeled piece of AI-generated content, and shared online as if it were a genuine archival photograph. 

This quiz tests your ability to differentiate between sources of credible news and those that are merely posing as legitimate sources.


News Lit Quiz: Is it legit? Vetting news sources for credibility

No, the evidence proves that this image was created by a digital artist using the AI tool Midjourney. 

This tutorial video teaches you the basics of “lateral reading” (doing effective internet searches to evaluate a source or piece of information).

Lateral Reading

Tutorial: Lateral reading

“1883 ‘photograph’ of bigfoot or sasquatch is AI-generated” 

AI image generator fabricates ‘archival’ Bigfoot photo 

This is not a genuine photo of Bigfoot, a centuries-old mythical creature.

 with the AI image tool Midjourney and was originally shared to Instagram by an account (@the_ai_experiment) that frequently posts AI-generated content.

While stories about Bigfoot have been circulating for centuries, no actual evidence exists to prove the legendary creature is real. 

Learn to recognize conspiracy theories and explain what makes people vulnerable to conspiratorial thinking.

Conspiratorial Thinking

AI image generators have recently become capable of producing convincing visuals from text descriptions — and they’ve quickly become a favorite tool of purveyors of visual falsehoods. One popular tactic? Using AI to create fake “archival photos” that seem authentic because of their convincingly old-fashioned appearance, such as this recent viral rumor purporting to show a newly discovered photo of Bigfoot. But, of course, it’s not authentic. Let’s look at the facts. 

No, this image was shared by accounts seeking engagement, not by standards-based news outlets reporting about it.

This infographic provides five steps for vetting news sources and includes a list of “trust busters” to watch out for in your information diet.


 Is it legit? Five steps for vetting a news source

AI-generated images aren’t always originally created to deceive people. In fact, many such digital creations originate in online communities — such as digital art groups — where they are clearly labeled as fabrications. But they are also easy targets for bad actors seeking content for quick engagement and attention on social media. And when they are removed from their original context and shared as authentic photographs, they transition from AI-generated artworks to pieces of misinformation.

 of conspiracy theorists and viral rumors online. But that’s not the only reason this post is implausible: The discovery of an archival photo such as this would be a major breaking news event, but when we searched standards-based news outlets for stories about this purported discovery we came up empty-handed. Sometimes, a traditional text-based search is as effective a debunking tool as a reverse image tool when investigating a curious or shocking image.

No. These false rumors were created by removing photos and videos from their original context and misrepresenting them online. 

Reverse image searches prove that these visuals are not related to the recent protests and violence in France. 

“Zebras and lions filmed running through streets were not filmed during French riots” 

“Islamophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment dominate misinformation around France violence” 

“An image of a people commandeering a police van is from a Netflix movie, not protests in France”

“Image taken amid violence during 2016 Euro Cup finals linked to protests in France” 

“Clip of looting at Louis Vuitton store in Portland misrepresented as French protests” 

French protests prompt surge of falsehoods 

 swept France after police shot and killed an unarmed teenager and then appeared to have lied about the events that led to it.

Photos and videos in these social media posts — seemingly depicting protestors 

 from a parking garage — were not from the protests. 

The visuals show outdated, out of context or otherwise unrelated incidents that had nothing to do with the protests.

Widespread protests and demonstrations swept France after a 17-year-old was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop on June 27. Bad actors seized on the unrest to push photos and videos from other contexts in an attempt to exaggerate the scope and severity of the protests and to propagate false rumors about the country’s immigrant population. Let’s look at the facts.

These posts were shared by average social media users with no connections to reliable news outlets.

Removing old photos and videos from their original context and presenting them as if they were connected to current events is a tried-and-true method of spreading misinformation online. Purveyors of misinformation can easily reframe old pieces of media to distort, exaggerate and misrepresent a recent incident. Not only does this type of misinformation cause confusion, but it is also frequently used to spread political messages and hateful rhetoric — or simply to capitalize on public interest to get cheap engagement online. In this case, many of the false rumors also spread Islamophobic narratives to falsely pin the blame on France’s Muslim population.

A reverse image search can quickly put falsely framed media back into its original context. The video of looting at a Louis Vuitton store, for example, is several years old and was actually captured in Portland, Oregon. The video depicting people stealing a police van was taken from the French film 

The video of an escaped lion has been online since 2020. The photo of a large fire was taken during the 2016 Euro Cup finals, and the video of cars crashing from a parking garage is from the filming of the 2017 movie 

Social media users should also cross-check viral rumors against standards-based news coverage and remember that even authentic social media posts often fail to capture the full scope of a complex breaking news story.