Misleading Image Circulates on Social Media
Recently, a photograph of the Moroccan national football team posing in front of an airplane before their departure for the World Cup has been circulating on social media platform X, featuring women flight attendants blurred in the image. This photo has been falsely presented as the official image released by the Moroccan delegation. However, this claim is entirely inaccurate. The Moroccan national team has not disseminated any image featuring women obscured in such a manner. The misleading photograph originated from a profile that bears no affiliation with the country's national football team.
The image being shared across networks depicts all the players selected for Morocco's World Cup squad posing in formal attire alongside professionals from Royal Air Maroc, although several individuals in the image appear obscured. The message accompanying the photo claims in French that it is the "official photo of the Moroccan team," and it has been shared over 1,400 times on X. Various other profiles on X have cited this post, speculating whether the women have been pixelated and spreading messages that are racially charged and hateful.
Original Image and Its Source
It is important to clarify that the manipulated image, which deliberately conceals the women flight attendants, was not released by the Moroccan national team. The X profile responsible for disseminating this edited photo is not connected to Morocco's national football team. This account claims to be dedicated to Moroccan football news and posted the image on June 3, 2026, at 17:59. In contrast, the official X account for both the men's and women's Moroccan national teams, known as Équipe du Maroc, published the unaltered image showcasing the Royal Air Maroc women at 17:37 on June 3. The original image, which features six women in the airline's uniform, can also be found on the official website of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation.
Major sporting events frequently become breeding grounds for misinformation. Misleading narratives often capitalize on large-scale events like the World Cup or the Olympics to propagate various agendas. Recently, at VerificaRTVE, we have debunked several out-of-context videos that circulated on social media, misleadingly claiming to depict unrest in Paris during the celebrations for the Champions League title won by Paris Saint Germain. We also alerted our audience to false content during the 2024 Olympic Games held in the French capital and during the World Cup in Qatar.
As reported by rtve.es.
