The sad thing is that not all out-of-context photographs are as innocent and fun as the ones on this list. In fact, sadly, using pictures that are taken out of its original context is a common misinformation practice. Sure, AI and computer manipulated images are also a threat to truth, but we shouldn’t underestimate the power of text that’s presented with an image.
Studies have shown that when we’re presented with a false fact, we are more likely to believe it if it is shown to us next to an image. Pair that with another finding that claims that we tend to falsely remember headlines based on pictures, and you’ll have a dynamite of a combination for misinformation.
You see, photography itself can be seen as a misleading medium. Photos give us an illusion of truthfulness. That is because we know that the events pictured have to have taken place in order for the photographer to capture it. So, once we see a picture, we take it as an objective representation of reality. However, that is not always the case.
Photography is all about correct framing and lighting. It is about choosing what to leave in the frame and what to ignore, what to highlight and what to leave in the background. Add to that the fact that each of us use our own lens to interpret a photo and you’ll see that objectivity is nowhere to be found. As Alan Trachtenberg once put it, “Neither photographs nor the experience of them are innocent acts.”
Over the years, there have been plenty of instances when people tried to recontextualize images for a variety of different reasons. For example, one can do it to emphasize the correctness of a political stance, like Turning Point USA, an American conservative group, once did.
They took an image of empty shopping aisles and presented it as a reason why socialism is bad and free market is the way to go. However, the image was from Japan, taken in 2011, soon after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on March 11.
Using old images and videos with new captions is also often used in war-related matters. For example, when Russia attacked Ukraine back in 2022, a lot of images and videos surfaced showing bombings that weren’t actually happening there at the time. This was further escalated by Russian state media that actively spread disinformation about Ukrainian aggression.
Similarly, the Israel-Gaza conflict has a lot of miscaptions and reframing going on. This ranges from the battlefield to the reactions to the war all over the globe. People manipulate the size of protesting crowds and the chants they’re singing. They change media headlines and misattributes quotes of celebrities. In other words, misinformation is rampant.
Of course, when it comes to such painful matters as war, misinformation should be expected. After all, there are powers that benefit from the emotional reactions people express on social media. But misinformation and miscaptioning even happens in images that have no real consequence.
