Doctored images and videos of unrelated protests have circulated online after a deadly car attack in Leipzig, falsely suggesting the suspect was linked to Antifa or the AfD.
A slew of false and unverified images have spread online after a deadly car attack in Leipzig, with several suggesting that the suspect was linked to the left-wing anti-fascist Antifa movement and Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
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The perpetrator, named in German media as Jeffrey K, drove a car into a crowd, killing two people and seriously injuring several others.
In the aftermath of the attack, one widely shared image claims the suspect was wearing a T-shirt with the logo "Antifa International".
The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, was not able to independently verify where the original image was taken or its online origin.
German fact-checkers traced one of its earliest uploads to an account that posted what appeared to be a genuine photo of the suspect wearing a green shirt alongside the picture of him wearing the "Antifa International" shirt.
When asked, the account's uploader said he had found the image on a niche website "Pr0gramm" — although searches of the website show no evidence of the image.
The screenshot of the image shows an account that posted the photograph was located in California, and taken from a template used to illustrate an Instagram display, suggesting that the image could be doctored.
Another account that amplified the picture later clarified that it was fake, despite Grok, an AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI, originally deeming it authentic.
At the same time, a doctored photo of the same image showing the man wearing a T-shirt with the logo of the AfD party spread online. Analysis of this image against the other one clearly shows it has been digitally manipulated.
Some of the posts sharing the image of the alleged suspect wearing the AfD shirt did so to show evidence of how easily a photo could be altered. However, several posts, some with thousands of views, held captions alleging the suspect was an AfD voter based on the manipulated image.
Despite these false images linking the alleged perpetrator to both Antifa and the AfD, authorities say there is currently no evidence to suggest the perpetrator had a political or religious motive.
Only limited information on the suspect has been released, with authorities confirming that he is a 33-year-old man, a resident of Leipzig and born in Germany.
They added he had come to the attention of authorities previously for "threats and defamatory offences in his social circle" and was admitted and treated in a psychiatric hospital.
In the aftermath of the incident, several videos circulating on TikTok and X claimed to show thousands of people gathering in support of new elections and the AfD following the attack.
These videos spread on TikTok and X, with one garnering tens of thousands of views.
But this footage is not current and unrelated to the incident. A reverse image search shows it is from a protest in February 2025 in Nuremberg.
At the time, at least 20,000 demonstrated for democracy in the city's Kornmarkt square, according to German news agency DPA.