15 Fact-Checking Images and Memes

Find Trusted Coverage

Often, claims or stories will come to you in the form of images and memes. How do you know if images have been digitally altered (Photoshopped) or if they are being shared out of context (misrepresented)?

If you want to find trusted coverage of the issue, claim, or photo, you have two options:

1. You can search the relevant text from the image.
2. You can use “reverse image search.”

Reverse Image Search Using Google

On your Computer

Using Chrome as your browser, right-click the image and select “Search Google for image.” Note: On a Mac, use Control-click. On a Chromebook, use Alt-click.

In the example below, we can do a reverse image search on this tweet that uses a picture from the Tulsa Race Massacre.

On your Phone

Using Chrome (app), touch and hold the image, then select “Search Google for This Image.” Note: You may first have to click a menu option to “Open in Chrome.”

The Results

You will get a list of any other websites where the image has been used, including previous fact-checks of the image, and perhaps even a link to the real version of the photo.

In our example, we see that this image has appeared in many other places, and that it has already been shown to be true by a reputable historical organization.

The results of this fact-checking led to some of the actual images, in context. In the screenshot below from the archive of the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum, we see that the image from the tweet was actually a postcard of a picture taken during the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921.