A viral picture falsely purports to show former German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a teenager, alongside other world leaders including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Berlin

A photograph circulating on social media claims to show former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former British Prime Minister Theresa May, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen together as teenagers. Fact-checking reveals that while the photo does feature a young Angela Merkel, the other individuals are not May or von der Leyen. 

The image was originally published by Time magazine in 2015, showing Merkel (then Angela Kasner) at a 1972 New Year's Eve party in Berlin. Officials have confirmed that neither von der Leyen nor former Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, who was also suggested to be in the photo, appear in it. The spread of such misleading claims online risks undermining trust in European institutions.

Photo of young Merkel is real, future 'world leaders' with her aren't

No, these European leaders were not snapped together in their teens. According to social media users, a picture circulating online allegedly shows former German Chancellor Angela Merkel alongside former British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The text on the photo alleges that the three childhood friends grew up together before going on to govern separate countries. The post has garnered more than 725,000 views recently after being shared on X and regularly resurfaces online. The post states that one of the teenagers in the photo is von der Leyen, but the modern-day picture below actually shows former Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė. Although von der Leyen was a member of Mrs Merkel's cabinet, she has never led a country, contrary to the text on the photograph. As for the picture itself, by conducting a reverse image search, Euroverify traced it to an article published by Time magazine in 2015. Featuring childhood pictures of Merkel, it was published after she was nominated as Time Person of the Year in 2015. The caption states that Angela Kasner is featured on the left of the picture at a 1972 New Year's Eve party in Berlin. Kasner is Angela Merkel's maiden name. Although Euroverify was unable to identify who the other girls in the picture are, the European Commission has previously confirmed to the media that von der Leyen does not feature in the picture. Meanwhile, Lithuanian officials told Euroverify that Grybauskaitė is not in the picture either. Additionally, childhood pictures of Theresa May do not resemble either of the other two teenage girls in the photograph. So yes, this is a picture of the former German Chancellor as a teenager, but the other two world leaders mentioned in the text cannot be seen in it. These kind of false online claims are regularly spread by accounts that share conspiracy theories, posing the risk of discrediting European institutions and their member states' governments with unfounded allegations.

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