Fact Check: Is viral photo of Macron, EU leaders sitting like schoolchildren as they wait for Trump real?

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump met European leaders such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Monday, August 18.

Following this, an image showing the European leaders waiting on chairs in the White House corridor went viral. But is the image real? Let us find out below.

Claim: Photo shows European leaders lined up outside Trump's office

An image went viral across social media, claiming to authentically show several European leaders like Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen sitting on chairs in a White House corridor.

An X (formerly Twitter) user @SprinterObserve shared the alleged image and captioned the post, "Humiliated and insulted in the White House corridor. Waiting for the master."

Another X user shared the same image and wrote, "'Coalition of the Willing'. The humiliated and insulted in the White House corridor. Waiting for the master."

"What an embarrassment and humiliation. Supplicants and vassals at the court of the Mad Emperor," one more post on X read.

Fact check: The picture is likely AI-generated

The claims made in the online rumors are false, as the viral image contained glitches and discrepancies typically seen in AI-generated images. Moreover, the image did not appear on any news sites or any reputable media outlet covered any such news.

In the viral image, Macron's shoes look different from each other, as there seems to be an extra pair of feet between him and von der Leyen.

Similarly, the chandeliers look different from each other, with one sprouting random crystals off to the side.

While doing an AI-detection test using Hive, the result showed it was 99.7% likely that the image contained AI-generated or deepfake content, according to Lead Stories.

Trump’s meeting with Zelensky and European leaders

During the meeting on Monday, Donald Trump said the US would be willing to support European efforts to police any peace deal in Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude towards the POTUS.

Trump hosted Zelensky and top European leaders to energize months of stalled US-led efforts to halt Russia's war on Ukraine.

The tone and style of the sit-down was far different than when the Ukrainian president first met Trump in the White House in February.

Trump ruled out allowing Ukraine to join NATO, which would extend the military alliance's protection to the country.

However, he did express support for security guarantees for Ukraine but the details remain vague.

Trump said that European countries "want to give protection and they feel very strongly about it, and we'll help them out with that."

The POTUS also suggested that Putin would be open to accepting security guarantees as Europeans look to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement in Ukraine.

The Europeans showed a united front on Ukraine, and many used public comments to heap praise on Trump. 

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said all the parties have been working together on "a just and lasting peace".

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the meetings could lead to "a really important step forward today."

Starmer added that the outcome might be "a historic step actually to come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine and security in Europe."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.