The former minister shared a tweet which states that “in Paris, some bistros even charge for ice cubes”, supporting photo. Except that it is a photomontage from 2019.
Ségolène Royal, former minister and future columnist for the show Do not touch My TV ! relayed a message on Twitter stating that“In Paris, some bistros even charge for ice cubes”. We see a receipt from a Parisian bistro which charges 73 euros for four Perrier and 16 ice cubes.
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The one who supported Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the 2022 presidential election comments by sharing: “Is it Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s fault? The heat wave, global warming and the billing of ice cubes, it’s him!”.
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Except that the image relayed by Ségolène Royal is retouched to make believe in stratospheric prices, even for Paris. The original photo comes from a tweet from 2019. It was a journalist who posted her receipt to denounce the price of lemon slices charged at 50 cents. On his note, the sparkling water then cost five euros and not 15, and the ice cubes were not charged.
A photomontage first published on a parody site in 2019
However, several clues may suggest that the image is retouched. Looking closely at the photo, we see that the retouched part does not have the same font or the same definition as the rest of the receipt. Moreover, by consulting the Twitter feed of the account that posts the image, we realize that it is a fake, which usurps the identity of another. It has since been deleted.
To go further and find out who is behind this receipt photomontage, just do a reverse image search with the TinEye tool. And we see that it was first published in 2019 by “SecretNews”, a parody news site in an article titled “In Paris, some bistros even charge the price of ice cubes“.
Moreover, the article below the photomontage, tells for example that “a bistro has decided to charge for the dishwashing liquid needed to wash the glasses and the wear of the soles of the server“, which seems unlikely. The page’s source code tells us that the article was published on September 19, 2019, three days after the journalist’s tweet denouncing the lemon billing.
Several fake old images that rotate for years
Four years ago, this false image of a receipt had already been widely shared on social networks and taken seriously, wrongly. It’s coming out right now, since it’s hitting and it’s in tune with the times: it’s summer, we go to the terrace for a drink (with ice cubes), we’re in a period of inflation. It is therefore more likely to attract “clicks”. Moreover, the fake AlerteInfos account tweeted it with the hashtags “heat wave” and “heat”.
In other registers, impressive photos emerge regularly. For example, the explosion of the port of Beirut in Lebanon in 2020 was reused in particular for the earthquake in Turkey. Sensational old images of fires and floods are also republished during similar disasters.