News Agencies Pull Kate Middleton Photo Over Concerns That It's Edited, Adding More Fuel To Conspiracy Fire
Four major news and image agencies, including the Associated Press and Reuters, all have pulled the recently released image of British Princess Kate Middleton amid concerns of digital manipulation.
Following weeks of conspiracy theories surrounding Middleton's prolonged absence, the development is getting increasingly saner parts of social media to put on their foil caps.
For the last few weeks, social media has been abuzz with people discussing the lack of news about Princess Kate Middleton following the planned abdominal surgery she had in January, with people putting forward conspiracy theories ranging from "Kate Middleton is getting divorced" to "Kate Middleton is recovering from a BBL surgery."
On Sunday, following months of radio silence, Kensington Palace finally released the first official photograph of the Princess since January, which should have finally put an end to all speculations.
However, the photograph, which shows Kate Middleton surrounded by her three kids, appears to have been edited — something that both social media users and major news agencies quickly noticed.
Some focused on little Prince Louis crossing his fingers in a weird, AI-ish way. A quick experiment shows that the gesture can be easily replicated, unlike other details that are much more suspicious, such as the Princess' right hand being inexplicably blurry, a part of Princess Charlotte's sleeve being transparent, a mismatch in the pattern on Prince Louis' pullover, and, for those who favor the "divorce" theory, the lack of any rings on Kate Middleton's hands.
Just a few hours after the photograph was released, news and image agencies AP, AFP, Reuters and Getty Images all removed the image from their libraries after reviewing the photograph, with AP issuing a "kill notification" for its clients in which the agency stated that "it appears that [Kensington Palace] has manipulated the image.
Unsurprisingly, the photograph failed to placate Kate Middleton truthers, instead letting the theories surrounding the Princess' current status flourish like never before.
The person who supposedly edited the image was the butt of many jokes, with people imagining how displeasing the British royal family was about to turn out for them.
On the following day, Kensington Palace apologized for the confusion caused by the image, explaining that visual errors were a result of Kate Middleton, who is a hobby photographer, experimenting with editing.
Needless to say, for many, the tinfoil cap will stay in hand's reach until they see another photograph.