White House posts AI-manipulated image of arrested protester with fake tears, sparking backlash

BBC Verify Live: White House defends AI-manipulated image showing arrested woman crying

After the White House shared an AI-manipulated image on their X account an expert has told BBC Verify it was "not the first time" the Trump administration had used artificial intelligence in its public communications. So far this year, we've also found at least another 11 posts on the White House's X account that feature AI or edited images, including this one of Trump in front of the White House surrounded by eagles and dollar bills: However, all of these examples are more obviously AI-generated compared with the latest post which has manipulated a genuine photo of an arrested woman to make it appear as if she was crying. Dozens of AI-generated images and videos have also been posted by Trump on the Truth Social platform that he owns.

The White House Publishes Manipulated Photo of Protester Being Arrested

The official X account for The White House published a digitally altered photo of a protester being arrested in Minnesota. Nekima Levy Armstrong was one of three people arrested for their part in disrupting a church service in St Paul. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem tweeted a photo of Armstrong being led away by a law enforcement agent in handcuffs yesterday. And then about half an hour later, the official X account of the White House published what looks like the exact same photo, except the expression on Armstrong's face has been dramatically changed. In the first photo, Armstrong has a look of detachment and defiance on her face, while in the second photo tweeted by the White House, she looks upset with tears streaming down her face. The Guardian notes that she also appears to have darker skin. The White House post was slapped with an X Community Note stating it is "digitally altered" and that the White House failed to add a disclaimer to the post saying it had been manipulated. The deputy communications director, Kaelan Dorr, tweeted a message on X addressing the altered image. "YET AGAIN to the people who feel the need to reflexively defend perpetrators of heinous crimes in our country I share with you this message: Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter," he says. With White House officials offering no explanation on how the image was altered, it can only be assumed that it was an AI-powered application. Since Trump resumed office, the White House has enthusiastically used AI to communicate. In October, Poynter reported that the official account for the White House had used AI in no less than 14 posts. Trump himself is also a proponent of AI. Last year he shared an AI-generated video of his vision for Gaza, which included giant gold statues of the president, Elon Musk tucking into a local Palestinian dish, and gleaming skyscrapers standing where there are currently piles of rubble after the most recent war with Israel. Image credits: DHS / White House

White House uses AI to alter image of arrested anti-ICE protestor

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday that several organizers of a recent anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church had been arrested. Soon after, The White House X account shared an image of one of the protesters, attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, being led away by law enforcement officers with tears streaming down her face. The post quickly received a Community Notes fact-check on X, which stated: "Digitally altered image. See original arrest photo here." The Community Note also included a link to the New York Post, which shows the real version of the image, in which Armstrong is clearly not crying. The White House's X post includes the all-caps caption, "ARRESTED. FAR-LEFT AGITATOR NEKIMA LEVY ARMSTRONG FOR ORCHESTRATING CHURCH RIOTS IN MINNESOTA." Meanwhile, the X account of FBI Director Kash Patel released images of Armstrong and other arrested activists; none of them appear to be crying, though. Crooked Media journalist Matt Berg posted on X that he asked White House officials if the crying images were altered and was reportedly told, "the memes will continue." The memeification of serious news events is par for the course on the Trump administration's social media accounts. As Mashable has reported previously, the Trump administration uses X and social media to dehumanize and insult its perceived enemies, often using 4chan-style memes and artificial intelligence in the process. Bondi also posted about the arrests on X, and the Post reported the protesters have been charged with "conspiracy against rights," which is a federal charge for preventing someone from exercising their constitutional rights. Right-wing commentators have also argued that the protesters violated the FACE Act. Ironically, the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act) is a law signed by President Bill Clinton to stop protesters from blocking the entrance to abortion clinics, but it also protects protesters from blocking the entrances of houses of worship. The First Amendment does give Americans the right to peacefully protest; however, it does not give protesters the right to enter a church without permission and shut down a religious service. In fact, this type of behavior violates other people's First Amendment right to practice their free religion freely. Videos of the anti-ICE protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul quickly went viral, with many viewers split between supporting the protesters and attacking them for going too far. Now, videos and photos of the protesters' arrests are going viral in turn. As more Americans get their news from social media, the Trump administration has grown skilled at turning news into reality TV-style entertainment, with Trump as the star.

White House Uses AI to Alter Protester's Face So That She's Sobbing, Instead of Looking Brave, During Arrest

The White House edited a protester's face to make it look like she's sobbing. The White House published an image on X in which the face of a protester had been altered using AI to depict her weeping during her arrest -- instead of striking a stoic pose, as she actually looked during the event. The woman in the image, civil rights attorney and organizer Nekima Levy Armstrong, was arrested this week after interrupting a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota. The protesters were calling for the resignation of a pastor at the church, whom they say is the acting director of an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in St. Paul, Minnesota. Levy Armstrong and other protesters are now being charged with federal conspiracy and intimidation charges, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Trump Administration officials have repeatedly characterized the protest as a "riot" and an attack on Christian worshipers; speaking to CNN on Wednesday before her arrest, Levy Armstrong defended the action as a "peaceful nonviolent demonstration." On Thursday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published a photo on X of Levy Armstrong's arrest. Levy Armstrong appears to be handcuffed as she was escorted through an office space by a federal agent. In this image, Levy Armstrong isn't crying. She's also wearing bright pink lipstick, and her mouth is closed. Roughly 30 minutes later, things got decidedly more bizarre when the official White House X account also published an image on X purportedly depicting Levy Armstrong's arrest. But in this version of the photo, Levy Armstrong is pictured sobbing, with visible tears streaming down her cheeks and her mouth open. Her pink lipstick, notably, is gone. "ARRESTED," reads large, bolded text, inserted over the image of Levy Armstrong allegedly sobbing. "FAR LEFT AGITATOR NEKIMA LEVY ARMSTRONG FOR ORCHESTRATING CHURCH RIOTS IN MINNESOTA." Everything else about the image, however, is the same, including the positioning of Levy Armstrong's body, the agent, and the background. As CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale soon confirmed, the image had been altered to make it look as though Levy Armstrong was crying during her arrest. Journalists and lawyers, among others, were quick to point out the discrepancy, taking to social media to show the stark difference between the two images. Futurism contacted both the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to ask whether generative AI was used to alter the image, but hasn't immediately received a reply. According to Dale, when reached for comment, the White House responded with a link to a post from an administration spokesperson reading: "Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue." In its initial post, however, the White House made no attempt to clarify that the photo had been altered, nor did its presentation suggest in any way that it wasn't real. It was presented as exactly that: a photo. In this context, to categorize this action -- the undisclosed and unflattering altering of a photo of the arrest of an American citizen who has been charged with a federal crime but not yet tried or convicted in court, published on an official White House information channel -- as a "meme" is, at best, disingenuous. At worst, it's a revisionist lie intended to influence public opinion and the information ecosystem. To that end, it's unclear why the White House would feel the need to alter an arrest photo in this way, other than to portray a different reality of Levy Armstrong's detainment -- that is, if the reality of the photo published by Noem didn't suit the administration and its aims. More on the Trump Administration: Trump's HHS Trashes Top African Health Organization as "Fake" and "Powerless"

White House X account alters protester photo to add tears

The edited photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong -- among three people arrested for allegedly disturbing a church service while protesting an immigration crackdown -- illustrates how President Donald Trump's administration is increasingly using deepfakes or AI imagery to make political arguments. On Thursday morning, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted an image on X showing Armstrong's arrest, her face calm and expressionless. About 30 minutes later, the White House posted the same image on the platform, but altered to show Armstrong sobbing, her mouth open, forehead wrinkled, and tears streaming down her face. A caption superimposed on the image read "ARRESTED," labeling Armstrong a "far-left agitator." The White House post offered no disclaimer that the image had been edited, and it was not immediately clear whether the alteration was done using an AI tool or other photo editing software. When reached for comment, the White House redirected AFP to a post on X by White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr, who tacitly acknowledged that the image had been modified. "YET AGAIN to the people who feel the need to reflexively defend perpetrators of heinous crimes in our country I share with you this message," Dorr wrote on X, resharing the White House post featuring Armstrong's altered photo. "Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter." Underneath the White House post, several users questioned why the image had been altered to make Armstrong appear to be crying. "We should be disturbed by any party using AI to manipulate photographs and presenting them as fact, which appears to be the case here," one user wrote. "This point of view should have bipartisan agreement." 'Lack of decorum' In the age of deepfakes and AI, such edited images are now "commonplace in partisan politics," said Walter Scheirer of the University of Notre Dame. "They are frequently used to humiliate opposition figures or make exaggerated political statements that resonate with a political base," Scheirer told AFP. "One could consider this the contemporary version of newspaper political cartoons, but there is a notable lack of decorum when it comes through official government communication channels." During the first year of his second White House term, Trump ramped up his use of hyper-realistic but fabricated visuals on Truth Social and other platforms, often glorifying himself while lampooning his critics. Trump or the White House have similarly shared AI-made images depicting the president dressed as the pope, roaring alongside a lion, and conducting an orchestra at the Kennedy Center -- Washington's premier arts complex -- where he installed himself as chair of the board. Underscoring the strategy's potential appeal to younger voters, similar AI-driven messaging has also been adopted by other arms of the Trump administration as well as by some of the president's political rivals.

White House Posts AI-Altered Photo of Arrested Protester

On Thursday, the Trump administration touted the arrest of several demonstrators who recently disrupted services at a Minnesota church, apparently to protest a pastor linked to ICE. Then, as so often happens with this administration, things took a turn for the grimly bizarre when federal officials shared an AI photo of one of the protesters that had been digitally altered to make it appear as if she were openly sobbing. U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi confirmed Thursday morning that she had directed FBI and Homeland Security agents to execute an arrest warrant against Nekima Levy Armstrong, writing that she was instrumental in planning the protest at Cities Church, which Bondi described as a "coordinated attack." Bondi later announced the arrests of two others, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly, in connection with the incident. According to the FBI, they are being investigated for possible violations of the FACE Act, which bars threats to houses of worship. "Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP," Bondi wrote. The government reportedly sought to press charges against Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor who was present at the protest, but a Minnesota judge declined to sign off on the criminal complaint, per the Washington Post. Lemon's lawyer Abbe Lowell said his client was on the scene reporting as a journalist. The White House highlighted the arrest of Armstrong, a local civil-rights attorney and former president of the NAACP's Minnesota chapter, on social media. But it did so in its typically mocking tone, posting a photo of a handcuffed Armstrong being escorted by officers that had been digitally altered to make it appear that she was in tears. Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem shared what appeared to be the original photo that showed Armstrong with a more neutral expression. The administration confirmed to CNN's Daniel Dale that the image had been manipulated. According to the outlet, the White House directed the reporter to a statement from a spokesperson that read, "Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue." White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson doubled down on the message and mocked those questioning its use on social media: This is not the first time that the White House has used AI-produced images to promote its policies or political actions. The administration has previously shared animated images of crying migrants being deported or Trump standing next to alligators wearing ICE hats to promote the federal government's Florida detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz." The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that protesters disrupted Sunday services at Cities Church, a Southern Baptist church located in St. Paul, after the revelation that one of its pastors reportedly works for ICE. Per the outlet, David Easterwood, who is believed to be the acting director of the ICE field office in St. Paul, was named in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Minnesota concerning the controversial and aggressive tactics used by the agency's agents in the state. Videos from the incident show protesters chanting "Justice for Renee Good," the 37-year-old wife and mother who was fatally shot by an ICE agent earlier this month. President Donald Trump called for the demonstrators' arrest, denouncing them as "troublemakers who should be thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country." Armstrong, among other activists, had called for Easterwood to resign as the church's pastor, citing his affiliation with ICE. "You cannot lead a congregation while directing an agency whose actions have cost lives and inflicted fear in our communities," she said Tuesday, per the Associated Press.