An image circulating online purports to show Boris Johnson raising his arm in a Nazi salute alongside three Ukrainians. But the photo is altered; in the original, the former United Kingdom prime minister is resting both hands by his sides.
"They are all compromised. Corrupt. And most importantly, CONTROLLED by their masters," says a September 11, 2023 post sharing the image on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.
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The picture spread in various languages across platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Telegram and Truth Social.
Former Brexit Party parliamentary candidate Jim Ferguson amplified it in a since-deleted post on X.
But the image is doctored, a reverse image search revealed.
The Ukrainian TV channel 24 Kanal posted the original photo on September 9 (archived here). The picture shows Johnson standing with his arms at his sides during a ceremony commemorating his receipt of an honorary doctorate from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, a city in western Ukraine near the border with Poland.
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A watermark on the altered version of the photo indicates that it originated with "Smak," a Ukrainian-language account that posted it on September 10 (archived here and here).
In a reply to Ferguson's post (archived here), the account admitted to doctoring the original picture of Johnson.
"Bro... I made this photo in Photoshop," the account said.
A live stream of the event on YouTube shows Johnson making no such gesture (archived here).
Reached by AFP, a Johnson spokesman confirmed the politician did not make the salute portrayed online.
"Of course he made no such gesture," Ross Kempsell said in a September 14 WhatsApp message. "It's a fake image."
False claims echoing the Moscow-driven narrative portraying Ukrainian leaders as "Nazis" have flooded social media since the start of Russia's invasion. AFP has debunked other misinformation about the war here.
AFP has also fact-checked other altered images targeting Johnson, including here and here.
