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Facebook Issues Apology After Photo of Donald Trump Was Erroneously Labeled 'Altered' The public affairs director at Facebook's parent company Meta, wrote on X the label was "an error."

By Emily Rella Edited by Melissa Malamut

Key Takeaways

  • A spokesperson for Meta apologized on Monday after X users noticed that a photo of Donald Trump was mislabeled as "altered."
  • The photo was taken moments after the attempted assassination of the former U.S. President earlier this month.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Facebook is issuing a correction after eagle-eyed users on X noticed that a photo of former U.S. President Donald Trump was being incorrectly censored.

The now-famous photo of Trump putting his fist in the air during the attempt on his life earlier this month in Pennsylvania was erroneously labeled "altered."

Related: Tech Leaders Speak Out After Attempted Assassination of Former President Trump

"Independent fact-checkers reviewed a similar photo and said it was altered in a way that could mislead people," a message read on screens beneath the image.

However, the photo in question was not altered and was originally taken by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci and distributed by the AP.

In response to the pushback, Dani Lever, the public affairs director at Facebook's parent company Meta, wrote on X the label was "an error" and that the message was supposed to appear on a different, altered version of the image.

"In some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed and we apologize for the mistake," Lever wrote on X.

The incorrect censorship comes weeks after tech leaders voiced their well wishes for Trump's recovery following the attempt on his life, including Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Related: Mark Cuban Warns About Fake Fundraisers on Social Media After Assassination Attempt: 'Makes Things Worse'

"This is such a sad day for our country," Zuckerberg said, at the time. "Political violence undermines democracy and must always be condemned."

Zuckerberg is not affiliated with any political party, though a 2019 Time report found that he was secretly recommending potential hires to now-U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg's 2020 Democratic presidential campaign team.

Emily Rella

Senior News Writer

Emily Rella is a Senior News Writer at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was an editor at Verizon Media. Her coverage spans features, business, lifestyle, tech, entertainment, and lifestyle. She is a 2015 graduate of Boston College and a Ridgefield, CT native. Find her on Twitter at @EmilyKRella.

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