Photo agencies are refusing to publish a portrait of Kate Middleton with her children over concerns it was manipulated
The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse all released kill notifications to media outlets over the photo — released by Kensington Palace on Sunday — announcing that they would no longer be distributing the image.
The AP wrote, "it appears that the source has manipulated the image." AFP cited an "editorial issue," while Reuters said the photo was withdrawn after a "post-publication review."
Following its release, social media was abuzz with sleuths questioning whether the photo was photoshopped or AI-generated. Many were focused on the cuff of Princess Charlotte's pink cardigan, which appears to disappear in the photo.
Other users pointed out that Middleton was not wearing her wedding ring.
"no rings, kids all have their fingers crossed, weird blurring on charlotte's cuffs, leaves on the trees despite it being early mach - i'm sorry but they're just asking for us to go full katespiracy at this point," one user on X wrote.
It has been photoshopped more than these agencies allow, and the reason people are interested is because there is a lot of speculation right now about where Kate Middleton actually is.
I think more specifically they're OK with edited images, but it must be declared that the image was edited. The assumption without that declaration is that the image is not edited, aside from composition changes perhaps (cropping, lighting, noise reduction etc).