On Aug. 2, 2025, U.S. Vice President JD Vance celebrated his 41st birthday. To commemorate the occasion, the Republican Party's official X account, @GOP, posted a graphic (archived) featuring Vance smiling and waving alongside a message that read: "Happy Birthday Vice President JD Vance."
In response, some social media users claimed the image had been doctored to make Vance appear slimmer than he actually is.
For example, one X user posted a side-by-side comparison of the photo in the GOP post and another similar picture they claimed was the original. The user wrote (archived): "OMG. They heavily photoshopped JD Vance to make him look like he weighs 160 lbs. What a joke. Nothing is real with this administration. NOTHING. Original on the left. Doctored on the right. So embarrassing."
(ChrisDJackson/X)
The post had amassed more than 198,000 views as of this writing. Similar posts appeared elsewhere on X (archived) and on Facebook (archived) and Threads (archived).
However, the claim that the GOP's image of Vance was doctored to make him appear slimmer was false. The GOP did carry out a minor alteration when creating the image; however, the visual differences between the image used in the GOP X post and the photo shared alongside it by social media users resulted from standard graphic design techniques used to reposition Vance to accommodate the layout of the text, combined with optical illusions created by background color contrasts.
There did not appear to be any attempt to make Vance look slimmer, as explained by a spokesperson for the GOP below and as outlined in a Snopes recreation, the conclusion of which was supported by an image analysis expert.
GOP explained the editing process
GOP press secretary Kiersten Pels confirmed that the photo used in the GOP X post's graphic originated from Vance's official X account (archived).
It was the third picture in the vice president's X post from his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, and the same one social media users claimed to be the "original" unedited version of the photo.
Speaking via email, Pels denied any manipulation of Vance's silhouette, explaining:
The photo had to be repositioned to accommodate the text layout, which altered the original perspective slightly. I have also attached a video of the Canva tool we used to create this graphic. It shows JD Vance being pulled off the background so that he could be moved to accommodate the text of the graphic. This is a very common editing technique. This method of detaching an object can lead to a minor loss of pixels and definition. However, JD Vance's silhouette has not been altered in any way.
It was not possible for Snopes to determine whether the original photo itself was digitally altered in any way. However, social media users claimed that the image that appeared in the GOP's graphic was a doctored version of the picture in Vance's X post. Our investigation found that this was not the case.
Independent testing confirmed the explanation
Snopes reviewed the screen recording provided by Pels and identified the tool she referred to as Magic Grab in Canva, a graphic design platform. We conducted our recreation of Vance's cutout using the same tool.
Although our version had rougher edges, when we raised the contrast and lowered the shadows and highlights, the body proportions appeared to be identical to those in the GOP graphic.
(Left: The image used in the GOP's graphic. Right: Snopes' illustration)
Expert analysis
Hany Farid, a University of California, Berkeley, professor and expert in image analysis and digital forensics, also reviewed the images and explained why Vance may have appeared slimmer in the GOP X post's graphic:
I don't think this image was manipulated to make Vance thinner. If you overlay the two images, you will see that Vance's body in both images is very similar. Instead I think what is happening is that in the original part of his body is set against a blue background which creates a bit of an optical illusion making him look bigger — in the other image, he is squarely behind the flag which provides more of a contrast. This is consistent with the background separation described below which may have shaved off a few pixels.
Catalin Grigoras, director of the National Center for Media Forensics (NCMF) at the University of Colorado Denver, said via email that he found no evidence of image rescaling, resizing or other modifications designed to alter Vance's body size. Grigoras confirmed that Vance's body proportions remained consistent across both images.
In sum …
Our analysis revealed several key factors that explained the visual differences between the original inauguration photo and the image in the GOP's birthday post:
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Background repositioning: The GOP used Canva's Magic Grab tool to extract Vance from the original background and reposition him to accommodate the birthday message text.
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Optical illusion effect: Vance's perceived size difference was primarily due to background color contrasts. In the original photo, parts of Vance's body appeared against a blue background, creating an optical illusion that made him appear larger. In the birthday post, he was positioned in front of the red and white of the U.S. flag, providing a different visual contrast.
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Technical artifacts: The background removal process resulted in minor pixel loss and edge softening, which social media users misinterpreted as evidence of body modification.