Fact Check: Taylor Swift Was Photographed Eating Ice Cream as Children Cry?

Claim:

An image shared in November 2023 authentically showed Taylor Swift holding an ice cream cone as children cry beside her.

Rating:

In November 2023, an image circulated online allegedly showing Taylor Swift holding an ice cream cone as children cry. One post on X (formerly Twitter) claimed, “Taylor Swift has recently shared a photo of her visiting a small village and enjoying an ice cream on her most recent trip to Africa."

"I hope this is fake," one X user commented on the above-mentioned post. "Why would Taylor do this?" read another post with over 72,900 views, as of this writing. Some social media users shared the image as part of an alleged conversation containing the message, "All i know is that she went to Africa and flew on her private jet just to take this photo."

We used reverse-image search to verify the authenticity of the viral image. The results showed it had been shared, for instance, on iFunny — a meme website. However, no reliable sources of news had posted the photo, nor was it published by any of Swift's official social media accounts.

Moreover, we closely examined the image and saw telltale signs of artificial-intelligence (AI) software. For instance, a child's body in the center of the image was deformed, and several hands in the background were unnaturally shaped or blurred.

(X user @TheButcher_1776)

In sum, because the photo was created using AI software, we rated it "Fake." this Furthermore, at the time of its circulation, Swift had not recently made a trip to a small village in Africa, much less anywhere else on the continent. She was instead in South America for a run of performances in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as part of "The Eras Tour."

Sources:

Argentina, Billboard. ‘5 Highlights From Taylor Swift’s First of Three Sold-Out Shows in Buenos Aires’. Billboard, 10 Nov. 2023, https://www.billboard.com/music/concerts/taylor-swift-buenos-aires-concert-highlights-1235468238/.