Oops: Fake Hurricane Sandy photos flood Twitter, fool many

Earlier today, we told you about a photo being circulated around Twitter that purportedly showed sentinels guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier while being pelted by rain from Hurricane Sandy. While the photo itself was authentic, it had actually been taken during another storm last month. Today alone, Twitterers have been fooled by several photos falsely being attributed to Hurricane Sandy.

A dramatic weather event like Hurricane Sandy lends itself well to rampant Photoshopping and manipulation. Here are some of the biggest Sandy photo hoaxes:

You’ll probably see this photo today. It’s fake. #NYC #Sandy pic.twitter.com/gwrDDPP5

— John de Guzmán (@johndeguzman) October 28, 2012

https://twitter.com/SimmonsFox5/status/262885945098002433

@SimmonsFox5 @sparky4886 That's the GW Bridge and it's an old photo!

— Matt Shifman (@AndyScoggin) October 29, 2012

@IsTwitWrong Another one doing the round https://t.co/eDR8BqCn (it's actually a stock pic http://t.co/woAddnXe )

— Elliot Bentley (@elliot_bentley) October 29, 2012

Whoops.

Wow! #HurricaneSandy #sandy #NYC pic.twitter.com/0gAD1noM

— Lauren LaPointe (@LaPointeDance) October 29, 2012

As this Twitterer points out, that photo is actually a still taken from the crappy global warming disaster flick “The Day After Tomorrow”:

https://twitter.com/Rooz739/status/262979720524734464

This incredible photo has been getting a ton of buzz on Twitter:

Awesome and terrifying image: the Frankenstorm versus the Statue of Liberty in NYC. pic.twitter.com/lIs75iei

— Van Jones (@VanJones68) October 29, 2012

I'm super suspicious of the Sandy & Statue of Liberty pic making the rounds. Screams fake to me. Anyone? http://t.co/wasSVved

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) October 29, 2012

She was right to be suspicious. Photoshopping, anyone?

It’s worth noting that Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski was among the most enthusiastic tweeters of fake Sandy photos. Mysteriously, his tweets touting the photos seem to have disappeared. Funny, that. Buzzfeed put out a real-versus-fake quiz of Hurricane Sandy photos and made no mention of his errors. Fortunately, some of his tweets have been preserved for posterity here.

Kaczynski is now attempting to cover his tracks by pushing out blatantly fake photos:

https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/262977057863106562

Nice try, Andrew. But next time, just admit you messed up.

Fake photo fatigue is already setting in, and Twitterers are hoping that the hoax storm weakens quickly:

Most pictures of Sandy on Facebook today are fake: photoshops, or pictures from past storms. So, fact-check before posting, please.

— Bora Zivkovic (@BoraZ) October 29, 2012

I've weathered a lot of storms on Twitter but ppl thinking the fake pics/movie stills they're posting of #Sandy are real might be the worst.

— Sarah Spain (@SarahSpain) October 29, 2012

***Warning***-If you send me a fake pic on Twitter or Facebook about #Sandy you get immediately blocked!

— Brad Panovich (@wxbrad) October 29, 2012

Stop retweeting those stupid, fake hurricane sandy pages. It's not even funny

— breezy. (@britiafoe) October 29, 2012

https://twitter.com/AaronTuttleOK/status/262990265567023104

https://twitter.com/PaulY196/status/262990699773976576

So annoying! People need to stop! RT @BryanShaw4: All FAKE #Sandy photos http://t.co/2IKYaTWM http://t.co/wsXPHVDs

— Ted McInerney (@Ted_WMTW) October 29, 2012

https://twitter.com/TheGSUbelle/status/262990564763525120

Already I'm annoyed at the number of fake Sandy pictures on Twitter. Get it together, people.

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 29, 2012

Pretty much every pic of Hurricane Sandy I've seen is apparently fake. Scary how these things spread unchecked on Twitter.

— Laurence Green (@LaurenceTGreen) October 29, 2012