The cover of a recent edition of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo displays a cartoon depicting France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron and alludes to baseless claims about her gender.
False. This is not a genuine Charlie Hebdo cover.
A number of Facebook posts falsely claim to show the cover of a recent edition of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo addressing baseless claims suggesting the First Lady of France, Brigitte Macron, was born male.
The image, which has also been shared on X (formerly Twitter) and purports to be from the 13 March edition of the magazine, satirises the decision of French President Emmanuel Macron to publicly address false claims about his wife’s gender.
False or misleading claims online have the potential to harm individuals, groups and democratic processes and institutions. Online claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.
The image is not a genuine cover from the publication. The official X account of the magazine shows that the cover of the 13 March edition of Charlie Hebdo featured an entirely different image centred around the subject of assisted dying.
Despite this, many of those sharing the image on social media appear to believe it is genuine. One says: “Fresh off the cover of Charlie Hebdo magazine amid Macron’s latest attempts to convince everyone that his wife is not trans.” Another says: “Charlie Hebdo on form for the Macron trans wife allegations scandal….”
On 14 March the official X account of the magazine reposted a message from another account stating that the front cover was fake.
On 21 March, the official X account of the magazine posted a “message from the editor” which, according to Google Translate, stated: “Fake Charlie Hebdo front pages are currently circulating on social networks. In addition to their dubious and conspiratorial nature, they absolutely do not represent the editorial line of our newspaper.”
The message added that official front pages of Charlie Hebdo could be found on its X page or website.
Image courtesy of Rafael Garcin
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as altered because the image of the cover is not genuine and has no connection with the magazine.
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