Millions of protesters showed up in June 2025 for the "No Kings" marches across the U.S., decrying the actions of President Donald Trump's administration. Shortly after, a number of images began to spread online that many users claimed showed the No Kings march across San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
One such post, on Threads (archived), received more than 20,000 likes as of this writing. The claim also spread to other platforms, including other Threads accounts, Facebook and X (archived, archived, archived). The Threads post caption read:
Well done all! ??? A huge crowd for the "No King" parade packed the Golden Gate Bridge so tightly, its famous arch flattened. Officials closed the bridge to cars as thousands of people stood shoulder to shoulder, making the steel bend and sway. Engineers said the bridge was safe, but it was a clear show of how strong people's power can be ?
(Threads user @moniviviny)
Many people in the comments appeared to believe that the photos depicted the No Kings protest in San Francisco. However, the images were largely miscaptioned. Some users, including on Threads and Facebook publicly clarified that they miscaptioned the images.
In reality, the photos depict an event in 1987 attended by an estimated 800,000 people celebrating the 50th anniversary of the city's Golden Gate Bridge. (It is reportedly true that the massive crowd "flattened the normally arched roadbed," according to engineers interviewed in an article by SFGate.)
The two images most widely shared are available for public viewing on Getty Images. Their captions were as follows:
A crowd of people walk across the Golden Gate Bridge for it's 50th Anniversary, San Francisco, California, May 1987. (Photo by Baron Wolman Collection/Rock & Roll Hall of Fame/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO — MAY 1987: The Golden Gate Bridge 50th Anniversary Bridge Walk in May 1987. (Photo by Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images)
There are also several available Getty Images of the actual No Kings protest in San Francisco on June 14, 2025, none of which show the images in question of the Golden Gate Bridge.
(Getty Images)