A meme circulated on social media in January 2025 claiming that a photograph of Canadian singer Avril Lavigne alongside American actor Steven Anthony Lawrence was found saved on a hard drive belonging to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Under the pretense of the rumor, the image was supposedly discovered when U.S. military officials raided bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed him in 2011.
The claim has widely circulated on social media, often with the caption: "Just a friendly reminder that Osama bin Laden had this image saved on his hard drive." For example, one Instagram post (archived) featuring the photograph gained almost 650,000 likes as of this writing.
(Instagram user @interestingash.ck)
The post's caption read:
This image, featuring Avril Lavigne in her signature early 2000s punk style alongside Steven Anthony Lawrence was found saved on Osama bin Laden's hard drive during the raid on his compound in 2011. The discovery of such pop culture artifacts among his files was unexpected and showed a bizarre contrast to his public persona. Bin Laden's collection also included other random and seemingly mundane items, which has since sparked curiosity and analysis regarding his interests and daily life during his years in hiding. This particular photo has since become a peculiar part of the narrative surrounding the infamous terrorist leader.
Similar posts circulated on other social media platforms including X, Threads, and Reddit.
The claim that bin Laden had the image of Lavigne and Lawrence saved on his hard drive is false. In addition to the fact that there was no credible evidence to support the claim, the rumor was part of a years-old fictional meme that claims bizarre or funny images were supposedly discovered in bin Laden's digital files — a joke that references the fact that officials really did uncover a variety of documents and books in his possession.
Furthermore, t
The earliest known example of the digitally created photo dates back to 2019, years after the bin Laden raid.
The Image Was Digitally Created
Photographer Erik Pendzich captured the image of Lavigne at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City
(Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Lawrence's image was seemingly taken roughly three years later, at an event hosted by
The meme's version of the image, however, shows Lawrence with a
(TinEye search results)
About the Meme
The claim about bin Laden saving the photo of Lavigne and Lawrence stems from an internet meme known as "Friendly Reminder That Osama bin Laden Had This Image Saved On His Hard Drive," according to the KnowYourMeme website. The meme originated in May 2021 and, in addition to the Lavigne-Lawrence photo, claims officials found digital files related to anime
(Reddit user @Anonymous-boi-01)
This meme plays on real information. In 2017, the CIA released thousands of files that officials retrieved from bin Laden's compound, and they included content related to pop culture.
What Was Actually on bin Laden's Hard Drive?
In the weeks following the May 2011 raid, U.S. intelligence analysts examined digital and hard-copy
Between May 2015 and January 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence publicly released three tranches of the documents. Additionally, in November 2017, the CIA released nearly 470,000 files that included a variety of materials such as bin Laden's personal journal and audio and video files.
As The Guardian reported in 2017, "loaded on one computer was video of the Rowan Atkinson comedy Mr Bean dubbed in Pashtu, the local language in western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, episodes of the animated programme Wallace and Gromit, and the viral video 'Charlie bit my finger'. There were also more than 30 videos on crocheting."
Let us note here: While U.S. officials said
However, no evidence, including the images released by the CIA, corroborated the claim that bin Laden had the fake photo of Lavigne or Lawrence in his possession. If he had, that fact would have appeared in news stories about the file collections. That was not the case.