Before clicking on shocking headlines about Sarah Palin allegedly leaving little to the imagination in a tiny bikini, it’s important to slow down and recognize how often such viral images are manufactured for clicks.
For years, edited photos have circulated online to create false outrage, most famously an image showing Palin holding a rifle in a stars-and-stripes bikini, which fact-checkers long ago confirmed was fake, created by pasting her face from a real July 4th parade photo onto someone else’s body. Despite fooling many at first glance—and even misleading a national TV show that later issued an on-air apology—closer inspection reveals mismatched lighting, inconsistent skin tones, and unnatural edges that give the manipulation away.
