Washington (AFP) – In recent days, rumors have spread on social media claiming that the US president is seriously ill or even dead, accompanied by manipulated or out-of-context photos, despite Donald Trump personally denying these allegations.

During a press conference on Tuesday at the White House, the 79-year-old US president described the rumors about his health as “fake news” that began circulating after his unusual week-long absence from the media spotlight.

Since Friday, the hashtag “Trump dead” has been used about 104,000 times on the X platform, generating 35.3 million views, according to an analysis by NewsGuard, an organization combating misinformation.

Some internet users posted maps showing road closures near the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center close to Washington, as evidence that Trump was receiving treatment there for a serious illness.

However, no credible information about road closures around the medical center was observed.

Other users shared a photo of an ambulance parked in front of the White House, claiming it was taken last month as proof of the rumors.

It turned out to be an old photo posted by a journalist on X in April 2023 during former President Joe Biden’s administration, according to NewsGuard.

Some who claimed Trump was dead posted a photo of the White House flag at half-mast, a gesture usually used to honor a high-ranking official who has died. In reality, Trump ordered flags at the White House and military institutions to be flown at half-mast last week to honor victims of a shooting at a Minneapolis school.

Others circulated a close-up photo of Trump’s face showing a deep line above his eye, suggesting he had recently suffered a stroke. But NewsGuard concluded that the original photo showed no such line and that the image was manipulated using artificial intelligence tools.

This misinformation, apparently from accounts hostile to Trump on X, Bluesky, and Instagram, continued to spread even after Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social over the weekend, “I have never been better than I am today.” It did not stop even after the press conference where he denied the rumors about his health.

The health of US presidents has always been a major concern. During the last election campaign, Donald Trump, the oldest US president at the time of his election, claimed that Democrats concealed the mental and physical decline of President Joe Biden, who was 82 years old when he left the White House in January 2025.