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Two images that appear to show Global News articles about a rise in fascist graffiti in Canada are spreading across social media. But the purported screenshots are digitally altered; the news organization confirmed it did not publish any such story, which does not appear online. Since when is freedom fascist? says a December 5, 2022 tweet with a photo of what appears to be an article published one day prior by one of Canada's largest news organizations. The supposed headline says: Rise in fascist graffiti has experts concerned about the steel resolve of the far-right. Posts with the headline and a picture of a wall spray-painted with the word freedom were also shared on Facebook . The same headline appears over another image of a beaver wearing a red baseball cap in Instagram and Facebook posts with thousands of interactions. Screenshot of a tweet taken December 19, 2022 Screenshot of an Instagram post taken December 19, 2022 But the headline does not appear on live or archived versions of the Global News website. I can confirm Global News didn't publish this article, said Rishma Govani, a spokesperson for the news organization. Rachel Gilmore, the political reporter said to have written the article, has previously been targeted by manipulated images as part of a harassment campaign she and other Canadian journalists have raised with law enforcement. Her author page shows two unrelated stories published December 4: one about Ukraine's former president and another on an Alberta sovereignty bill . A reverse image search shows the freedom graffiti photo appeared in a February 2022 article by blogTO . The local news site in Toronto reported the graffiti was painted on the side of the Davisville Junior Public School and Spectrum Alternative School to protest Covid-19 vaccine mandates. A local politician condemned the vandalism in a February 2 tweet . Meanwhile, the beaver shown in the second image shared online is the logo of Buc-ees , a chain of gas stations and convenience stores in the southern United States. AFP has fact-checked other manipulated images with fabricated headlines from Global News , the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and CTV .
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