Hold up before you click—those “look now” posts are everywhere, and the headlines sound wild, especially the claims about Sarah Palin in a tiny bikini that “leaves little to the imagination,” but here’s the truth you need to know: for years, edited images have been pushed online to manufacture shock, and the most famous example—

the star-spangled bikini image of Palin holding a gun—is not real, as fact-checkers showed long ago that her face was pasted from a real July 4th parade photo in Chugiak, Alaska onto another person’s body, with mismatched lighting, edges, and skin tones that become obvious once you look closely; even major TV shows were fooled, proving how fast fake images spread when they promise outrage, while the only authentic visuals that resurface are ordinary 1980s Miss Alaska pageant footage, not the extreme viral shots circulating today, which are edited—so here’s a simple five-second fake-photo check you can use anywhere: