From manipulated images to out-of-context photos, false claims that Donald Trump is seriously ill — or even dead — have swirled online, with the misinformation persisting even after the US president publicly rejected it on Tuesday.
At a White House press conference, Trump dismissed social media rumours about his health as “fake news,” following the 79-year-old’s noticeable absence from public appearances and press events last week.
Since last Friday, there were around 104,000 mentions of the hashtag “Trump dead” on the Elon Musk-owned platform X, generating a cumulative 35.3 million views, according to an analysis from the misinformation watchdog NewsGuard.
Some social media users cited online maps purportedly showing road closures near Maryland’s Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre as evidence that Trump was being treated for a serious ailment at the facility.