In late April 2025, an image circulated online purportedly showing a Time magazine cover featuring Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney giving U.S. President Donald Trump the middle finger.
The Canadian leader — who was sworn in as prime minister in March after being elected as leader of the Liberal Party and who won the federal election at the end of April — appeared to be wearing a ring adorned with his country's flag, and the cover headline read: "Hey, Donald."
One X user's post that included the alleged cover had amassed more than 7.6 million views as of this writing (archived). The image also appeared on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Reddit (archived), where one user wrote: "I hope this is the Real Time Magazine cover."
(Reddit user u/EugeneWong318)
However, it was not an authentic Time magazine cover. The image had been digitally created and a spokesperson for the outlet said it was not real; therefore, we rated it as a fake.
A reverse image search on Google showed that the picture began circulating in late April 2025, around the time of Carney's electoral victory.
Browsing Time magazine's archive page revealed that no such cover had been published in April 2025 or earlier. A spokesperson for the outlet also said via email: "This image is not an authentic TIME cover."
The earliest iteration of the image found via Google came from a Bluesky user called Mediocre Meme Lord who posted the fake cover on April 25, 2025 (archived). Snopes contacted the user to ask whether they created the image. We will update this article if we receive a response. The Bluesky user regularly posts images featuring politicians that have clearly been generated using artificial intelligence software. However, as of this writing, it was not possible to confirm who had originally posted or created the fake Time cover.
I'm calling it. Good job Canada, I'm proud of you.
#FuckTrump #ElbowsUp #MarkCarney @markcarneyforpm.bsky.social #CanadaStrong
[image or embed]— Mediocre Meme Lord (@cluesblues.bsky.social) 26 April 2025 at 02:50
In fact, numerous AI-detection tools, such as Hive Moderation and Detect AI Images, concluded that there was a significant chance the cover was created using AI software.
If Time magazine had published such a cover, it would have been eminently newsworthy. However, a Google News search produced no evidence of any news media outlets reporting on it.