An image of Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi holding a placard for a sports memorabilia company has been digitally altered to show Messi holding an Israeli flag. The altered image is on Facebook with the caption: “Messi support Israel”, and is modified further to look like a screenshot of a post on Messi’s official Instagram account. There is no evidence of the photo being posted to Messi’s Instagram page. Reuters has addressed a similar image altered to show Messi holding the Palestinian flag amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The image has been digitally altered to show Messi holding an Israeli flag.

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Persons: Lionel Messi, Messi, “ Messi, Israel ”, “, Icons.com, ” Icons.com, Read Organizations: Facebook, Reuters, Messi, Inter Miami FC, Thomson Locations: Miami, Israeli, Israel