Social media users have been sharing a purported Time magazine cover photo comparing Prime Minister Modi with Nazi German Dictator Adolf Hitler. The alleged cover photo shows Hitler’s moustache overlayed onto Modi’s face, with the Time masthead at the top.
Time magazine has not published any such cover page.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine early this year, a similar morphed cover comparing Vladimir Putin with Hitler was in circulation. Back then, Reuters had debunked the fake cover page.
Social Media conveyer of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party, Y Sathish Reddy, posted the photo on Twitter. The caption reads: “Modi is a PM with no vision, no intellect & absolutely no desire to uplift the needy of the nation. All he has is, a hunger for power! #ByeByeModi”
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
At the time of writing, the post gathered high engagement with over 2000 retweets and around 6000 likes.
Using the hashtag #ByeByeModi, several TRS supporters shared the photo. An archive of the same can be accessed (here) and (here).
FactO Check:
We checked Time Vault, which hosts the archives of the magazine’s cover pages; however, we couldn’t find any cover with a resemblance to the viral one.
(Source: Time Vault/Screenshot)
We then compared the viral photo with one of the original covers and noticed all the covers have an issue name, issue date and credit to the illustrator or photographer; however, the viral one doesn’t have any.
We also found a graphic designer, Patrick Mulder, who took to Twitter in February this year to confirm that he had created the photo of Vladimir Putin likening Hitler. The post was marked manipulated by Twitter.
The Return of History. #Ukraine #Kyiv #Putin #Russia #Zelensky pic.twitter.com/phIjNoJYqG
— Patrick Mulder 🏴🇺🇦 (@MrPatrickMulder) February 27, 2022
He added: “I wanted to create something that added to the conversation around the invasion of Ukraine and captured the public mood. It wasn’t originally intended to be a TIME cover. The finished image was so powerful, I felt that it deserved to be framed in an equally powerful way.”
— Patrick Mulder 🏴🇺🇦 (@MrPatrickMulder) February 28, 2022
Conclusion:
Therefore, it is evident that the magazine cover comparing Modi with Hitler was not published by the Time.
