As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi co-hosted a world AI summit alongside French President Emmanuel Macron on February 10, social media posts shared a digitally altered picture and falsely claimed Modi was “taken round” in a taxi throughout his keep in Paris. The unique image confirmed Modi stepping out of a automotive in Vatican Metropolis, the place he met Pope Francis in October 2021.
“Hey French folks, do not insult our world chief so a lot, you shouldn’t have taken him round in a taxi,” reads a Hindi-language X publish shared on February 12, 2025.
The publish included a picture of Modi stepping out of a automotive with a signage bearing the phrases “La prima App in Italia per i Taxi” seen beneath the licence plate.
“They took the world chief in a taxi”, reads superimposed textual content on the picture.
Screenshot of the false X publish, captured on February 12, 2025
The publish surfaced within the backdrop of Modi co-hosting the AI Motion Summit with French President Emmanuel Macron on February 10 which goals to put the groundwork for governing the nascent sector, as world powers race to play main roles within the fast-developing expertise (archived hyperlink).
The altered picture was shared with related claims elsewhere on Fb and X.
Feedback from customers urged they believed the declare.
“The sort of respect he instructions, we should thank Macron that he wasn’t hurled up on a two-wheeler,” one person commented.
“Good that they know his actual worth,” wrote one other.
However the unique picture confirmed Modi’s 2021 Vatican go to and it has been digitally altered so as to add the emblem and title of an Italian taxi-service supplier app.Â
A mixture of reverse picture and key phrase searches on Google discovered an extended video printed on the verified YouTube account of AFP on October 30, 2021 (archived hyperlink).
The caption of the video says, “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Vatican to fulfill Pope Francis | AFP.”
The automotive the place Modi alighted from doesn’t have a signage exhibiting the title and emblem of the taxi service app.
Screenshot comparability of picture shared in false posts (left) and the AFP video (proper)
Comparable picture was additionally posted on X by the Indian media outlet ANI on October 30, 2021 (archived hyperlink).
A part of the caption learn: “PM Modi had a really heat assembly with Pope Francis on the Vatican. The assembly was scheduled just for 20 minutes however went on for an hour.”
The Indian prime minister arrived in Italy on October 29, 2021 to attend the G20 summit held between October 30 and 31(archived hyperlink). He met Pope Francis on October 30.
AFP beforehand debunked misinformation about Modi’s co-hosting of the AI world summit with Macron right here.Â
