This photo might not be what it appears. amelialiana/Instagram

The INSIDER Summary:

Instagram travel star Amelia Liana is being accused of faking some of her travel photos.

People are claiming it looks like she superimposed backgrounds of famous sites on her pictures instead of actually visiting them.

There seems to be a growing trend of Instagram travel photos that aren't necessarily what they seem.



Travel blogger and YouTuber Amelia Liana has been accused of faking some of her travel photos on Instagram.

People claim that Liana, who has 459,000 followers on Instagram, superimposed photos of famous sites into the background of her pictures and Photoshopped details to present a glamorous — but inauthentic — portrait of her lifestyle.

Liana posted this photo of the Taj Mahal on April 1o, which appears to have been altered.

Such a dreamy trip to India topped of by getting to experience the Taj Mahal. So grateful to explore our beautiful world 🙏🇮🇳💫#India #TajMahal #Agra @revolve #revolveme A post shared by Amelia Liana (@amelialiana) on Apr 10, 2017 at 8:46am PDT Apr 10, 2017 at 8:46am PDT

In this case, Liana posted a vlog on her YouTube channel from her trip to India, so it seems that she did, in fact, visit the Taj Mahal.

But in the frame of her video, you can clearly see crowds of tourists in the background along the water, whereas the photo she posted only shows people far in the distance. You can also see scaffolding on the far right column of the Taj Mahal, which doesn't appear in her Instagram photo.

Liana's vlog from the Taj Mahal looks different than her Instagram picture (above). YouTube

In a list of "image principles" posted on her blog on July 15, after receiving backlash, she wrote that she often shoots content at sunrise during busy tourist seasons to avoid crowds, and that "All my imagery is actually shot at the time in the location I specify."

In the video chronicling her visit to the Taj Mahal on April 8, she doesn't arrive at the site until after 9 a.m. because she misplaced her memory card. While it's possible that she snapped an Instagram-worthy photo at a moment when the area was less crowded, it's hard to explain the missing scaffolding.

Lifestyle blogger Ellie Grace Dickinson questioned some of Liana's other photos on Twitter.

—Life of Ellie Grace (@elliegdickinson) June 10, 2017

—Life of Ellie Grace (@elliegdickinson) June 10, 2017

—Life of Ellie Grace (@elliegdickinson) June 10, 2017

—Life of Ellie Grace (@elliegdickinson) June 10, 2017

What could be the "smoking gun" is a photo from May 25 of Liana on a rooftop in New York City where the Freedom Tower is missing from the view, which could mean that she superimposed an old picture of the NYC skyline into her post. That photo has since been deleted from Instagram.

Another Twitter user took the opportunity to poke fun at how unrealistic many Instagram stars' travel photos often seem.

This isn't the first time an Insta-famous jetsetter has been accused of misleading followers by faking or Photoshopping pictures.

Travel blogger Lauren Bullen claimed that she had a "copycat" named Diana following her around the world and recreating her photos, penning a post called "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." When people began to point out signs that the "copied" photos looked like they'd been Photoshopped or created by Bullen herself, she deleted the post and refused to put INSIDER in touch with "Diana." (We never quite got to the bottom of it, but Bullen did gain 20,000 followers that week.)

Making a living off of Instagram isn't easy.

As Instagram becomes saturated with lifestyle bloggers, some say it's becoming more difficult to land the lucrative sponsorship deals that keep Instagram stars jetsetting around the world. It's led to an environment where creators are desperate to produce successful content in order to maintain their lifestyles, which can lead to some worrying trends.

In May, travel blogger Sara Melotti told INSIDER that some content creators will go to extreme lengths to boost their numbers, traveling to "Instagram spots" that are proven to get likes, paying hundreds of dollars to get featured on larger accounts, and creating an "Instagram mafia" of comment pods and group chats to manipulate the algorithm and earn a coveted spot on Instagram's "Discover" page. She wrote a blog post exposing these tactics and calling for more transparency and "ethical solutions," which made her some enemies.

While it doesn't seem like Liana completely fabricated her trips, there are legitimate questions about the authenticity of her rosy travel photos.

Liana directed INSIDER to her public relations team at Storm Model Management, who have not yet responded to our inquiries.