Photo of Brazil judge Alexandre de Moraes has been edited to reference Hitler

A photo of Brazil’s Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes is circulating online, but it has been edited to reference Hitler. 

The photo seemingly shows a microphone positioned in front of Justice Moraes’s face to resemble Hitler’s moustache. It has been shared with captions including: “You seriously have to wonder, who took this photo? Journalists in Brazil would go to pris0n [sic] for publishing this, if they were found out.”

This style of moustache—often referred to as a ‘toothbrush’ moustache—is characterised by facial hair beneath the width of the nose, and became associated with Hitler and other Nazi figures after World War Two. 

However, there’s no such microphone visible in the actual photo of Justice Moraes, which is dated April 2023, and has been published by many media organisations since then. 

Even though to some this may seem very obviously edited, we’ve explained here why we still think misleading posts like this one are important to fact check. 

The image is circulating online as X, formerly Twitter, was banned in Brazil after the company failed to appoint a legal representative before a court-imposed deadline. Anyone who tries to bypass the ban could reportedly face a R$50,000 (£6,700) fine. 

This was the latest development in a high-profile standoff between Justice Moraes and owner of X Elon Musk, which began with the judge ordering X to block several accounts which Mr Musk then said he would reactivate. 

Mr Musk has since referred to Justice Moraes as a “dictator” several times and claimed the judge was “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil”. In a recent speech, where he didn’t explicitly mention X or the ban, Justice Moraes said: “Those who violate democracy, who violate fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable.”

Manipulated images are a common form of misinformation we see online. We’ve previously written about edited images of politicians, including Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. It’s important to consider whether something is genuine before sharing it and our guide to spotting misleading images may help you to do this.