Cyclone Fani: Fake Images Show Banners in US Asking to Help Odisha

No, USA did not put up billboards to ask for help for the victims of Odisha.

A viral image on social media falsely claims that places in the United States of America put up banners to help Odisha.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

Two images are doing the rounds on social media that show billboards asking for help for Odisha’s Cyclone Fani victims. The billboards read, ‘Help Odisha. Donate now. We are all in this together.’ The image is viral with the claim that by putting such billboards, the United States of America (USA) is showing support to the victims.

The images are viral on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.(Photo: Twitter)

Several users on Twitter and Facebook have shared these images with similar claim.

TRUE OR FALSE?

The claims are false. No such billboards have been placed in USA, as claimed in the viral posts. The images have been edited using the photo editing website PhotoFunia.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT?

A closer look at the picture showed us banners of ‘photofunia.com.’ PhotoFunia is an online photo editing website with fixed templates available for free.

Left: Free templates available on the photo editing website. Right: Branding of photofunia.com seen on the viral image.(Photo: Screengrab of photofunia’s website)

We tried making our own billboards using the free templates available on the website.

We put WebQoof banners in the same place as that of Odisha billboards in the viral image.(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

We put WebQoof banners in the same place as that of Odisha billboards in the viral image.(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The viral images are clearly morphed.

Further, in the original photo available on getty images, one can clearly see banners of Kodak instead of ‘photofunia.com,’ as seen in the viral image.

The original image is available on gettyimages’ website.(Photo: Screengrab of gettyimages)

Even the president of The Odisha Society of the Americas (OSA) told The Quint, “I do not believe this is a real picture.”

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