From manipulated images to out-of-context photos, false claims that Donald Trump is seriously ill – or even dead – have swirled online, with the misinformation persisting even after the US president publicly rejected it on Tuesday.
At a White House press conference, Trump dismissed social media rumors about his health as "fake news", following the 79-year-old's noticeable absence from public appearances and press events last week.
Since last Friday, there were around 104,000 mentions of the hashtag "Trump dead" on the Elon Musk-owned platform X, generating a cumulative 35.3 million views, according to an analysis from the misinformation watchdog NewsGuard.
Some social media users cited online maps purportedly showing road closures near Maryland's Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as evidence that Trump was being treated for a serious ailment at the facility.
But there were no credible reports of road closures around the medical facility.
Other social media users shared an image of an ambulance parked outside the White House, claiming it was taken last month and citing it as evidence of a health crisis involving Trump.
It was actually an old photo posted by a journalist on X in April 2023 – while Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, was still in office, according to NewsGuard.
Some users claiming that Trump was dead shared an out-of-context image of the White House flag flying at half-staff, a traditional gesture used to honor the death of a prominent official.
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