On September 19, five days before Germany’s parliamentary election, a regional chapter of the anti-migrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) shared a graphic image on Facebook recalling the mass sexual assaults in Germany on New Year’s Eve in 2016. The image accompanied a message urging supporters to go and vote.

However, the image was a fake. It was falsified in multiple ways and taken from an extremist white supremacist source with the intent to manipulate voter perception.

The image

The image was shared by the Facebook account of the AfD’s Hochsaurland chapter. It showed a young woman surrounded by men, who happen to have a darker skin tone, together with the text:

“Do you remember…? New Year’s Eve…! #GoVote.”

Screenshot of Facebook post by AfD Hochsauerland Region. (Source: Facebook / Archived.is)

The mention of New Year’s Eve refers to the widely-reported spree of sexual assaults in German cities, notably Cologne, on New Year’s Eve 2015–16.

The AfD Kreisverband Regensburg reposted the meme with even more inflammatory language calling for:

“An end to violence and mass rape of women in Germany.”

Screenshot of AfD KV Regensburg Facebook page featuring reposted meme with inflammatory language. (Source: Facebook / Archived)

However, a Google reverse image search of the photo reveals that it is a fake on multiple levels. The background to the shot is taken from this footage of CBS News journalist Lara Logan, who was sexually assaulted on Tahrir Square in Cairo on February 11, 2011.

(Source: CBS News / YouTube)

The image has been photoshopped: Logan’s head has been replaced with that of another woman with blond-hair. To identify her, @DFRLab appealed to #DigitalSherlocks on Twitter for help. One user quickly identified her as British glamor model Danica Thrall.

A second pinpointed the source of the image as a photoshoot for men’s magazine FHM, dated to December 6, 2010.

A screenshot of the image confirms the match.