White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/white-house-posts-altered-arrest-photo-to-make-it-appear-ice-critic-was-sobbing/

Comments

wmeredithJan 25, 2026, 4:58 PM
There's been a lot of talk on HN about generative AI and how it will be weaponized to scam people and politically for propoganda. That reality got here very quickly.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted a photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minnesota civil rights attorney, being arrested at a political protest. A half hour later, the official White House X account posted an altered version in which Armstrong’s face was manipulated to make it appear that she was crying.

Wild to see this tech get adopted so fast and so unapologetically used.

matthewdgreenJan 25, 2026, 5:10 PM
There are people on this site who will still turn out to vote for this administration and their allies in Congress. It's wild.
davidivadavidJan 25, 2026, 5:14 PM
The number of tech or tech-adjacent people that have completely torched their reputation in the last few weeks is staggering. I hope they get publicly shamed.
mothballedJan 25, 2026, 5:31 PM
Lol the CEO of Palantir said enthusiastically during an investor conference that it's necessary on occasion to kill his enemies, why would you think tech reputations would get torched? If anything it should be a boon when getting hired for big tech. As the government becomes more fascist and more integrated with industry, these contracts will be more and more important and enthusiastically embracing the anti-domestic-terrorist line will improve reputations even more.
spwa4Jan 25, 2026, 5:42 PM
They shamed themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI

Unfortunately ... it's all of them.

thomassmith65Jan 25, 2026, 5:39 PM
My suspicion is that, here on HN, the number has dwindled considerably, even as the number has risen among the most famous figures in tech.

HN really should conduct a survey, like StackOverflow does. It would be fascinating.

pix128Jan 25, 2026, 6:40 PM
I see that as wishful thinking. HN has always been very much right leaning. I very much doubt much has changed.
thomassmith65Jan 25, 2026, 6:58 PM
Fair enough. All the more reason for HN to conduct a survey. It would be interesting to find out.
subjectsigmaJan 26, 2026, 4:03 AM
HN is not perfect, but “right-leaning”? What the actual fuck are you smoking
TagbertJan 25, 2026, 8:28 PM
HN has been right leaning? That seems an odd take. Most comments I see on here lean more progressive. Or are you talking about the billionaire tech class who are in their own demographic?
dghlsakjgJan 26, 2026, 12:07 AM
Wonkish, pro free trade, knows who Murray Rothbard is right leaning, not populist modern right wing.
tremonJan 25, 2026, 8:50 PM
Progressive and right-leaning are not in contradiction with each other, in that corner you will find most libertarians.
JeremyNTJan 26, 2026, 1:16 AM
HN like a lot of SV / VC culture was more libertarian leaning than right leaning. Low taxes, minimal oversight, etc. - true largely of workers and capital alike.

The open embrace of the fascist / nativist right in SV has been more recent, and it has empowered this second Trump administration. The calculation is presumably that they can curry favor and consolidate power.

dylan604Jan 26, 2026, 3:43 AM
> My suspicion is that, here on HN, the number has dwindled considerably

What makes you think that? The number of articles that get flagged and the pattern of the flagging and down voting would suggest that not to be true even if the actual comments might have slowed

coldpieJan 25, 2026, 5:18 PM
I don't even know what a realistic plan to fix this looks like. How do you cult de-program 40% of the population of the most powerful country on the planet?

Nuremberg-style trials for every single person working under this administration is obviously the base minimum to start to get a handle on this. Anyone who is not pushing for that is not being serious about tackling America's problems. Then what? Extreme anti-trust enforcement and implement wealth caps to prevent the harm from recurring and hope most of the population eventually comes back to planet Earth?

anon7725Jan 25, 2026, 7:12 PM
> How do you cult de-program 40% of the population of the most powerful country on the planet?

If history is any guide, that doesn't happen without a substantial - existential, perhaps - exogenous shock.

spencerflemJan 25, 2026, 5:26 PM
I agree, sadly we do not have any leadership pushing for this yet.
spwa4Jan 25, 2026, 5:43 PM
Oh, that's easy. You see people vote like this if they don't advance economically. So what you need is to create a decade or so of economic advancement for >50% of the US.

If that doesn't happen, odds are that even if a democrat president gets elected, they won't be much better. This is still the fallout of the GFC, of the decision to bail out the banks back then.

I know that sounds incredible, and I would have bitten off the head of anyone claiming this when I was 20 ... but it's how the world works.

GrowingSidewaysJan 25, 2026, 5:13 PM
[dead]
blellJan 25, 2026, 5:19 PM
[flagged]
oooyayJan 25, 2026, 5:31 PM
There is a difference between not liking someone for substantive and non-substantive reasons. I have military training that is adjacent to policing because that was one of the objectives of the theater I was in.

Informed by that training I would never:

- shoot someone when they are being detained

- shoot someone simply because they have a gun

- stand next to a vehicle so as to postulate the vehicle as a weapon

When I don't like Kristi Noem it isn't because she's Kristi Noem, because she's a woman, or because she shot a puppy she didn't like. It's because her actions and policy that she defends and writes don't agree with the ethics of the training I received.

You can do this thought exercise across this administration and arrive at the same conclusions of most of the key-holding individuals.

coeneedellJan 25, 2026, 5:23 PM
Violating the laws of our country while being in a position of public trust reaches a higher standard than “politicians I don’t like” IMHO.
filoelevenJan 25, 2026, 5:31 PM
You'll really like how they're gearing up to fix the 2026 vote, then. Or just abolish it.

https://people.com/pam-bondi-full-letter-tim-walz-after-alex...

pclJan 25, 2026, 5:22 PM
That's not at all what the person you responded to said. I'm not sure if you're intentionally misrepresenting their statement or if you're just reading too quickly or are under-caffeinated or whatever.
CursedSiliconJan 25, 2026, 5:29 PM
Downplaying people getting shot in the face does you no favors
unethical_banJan 25, 2026, 5:27 PM
Phase for the day: rule of law
hbarkaJan 25, 2026, 5:11 PM
Their vulgarity goes beyond tech and are unapologetic about it. They get to do it because mass media fails to call the lies. Over and over.
zbentleyJan 25, 2026, 5:34 PM
> mass media fails to call the lies

That can't be all it is: this and other recent, uncontroversially atrocious (when taken out of political context) actions taken by the Trump administration were very widely reported as lies/unconscionable by the vast majority of media outlets large and small.

Hell, we're even only having this discussion because Ars Technica, a publication with ten million readers, did journalism about an event. That's not huge in the grander scheme, but it's not tiny either.

There's certainly many stupid/corrupt things that news media companies should improve. I just don't think "A.P. News isn't calling $thing out" is the problem here.

hbarkaJan 25, 2026, 6:00 PM
Uncle Joe and Aunt Lucy aren’t reading Ars Technica. You know where their eyes and ears are glued. Critical reading is reserved for the HN crowd.
jjbinx007Jan 25, 2026, 5:04 PM
It's already got to the point that if I see an interesting video showing a cute animal doing something or a natural disaster my first thought is "Is this AI?"
MattDaEskimoJan 25, 2026, 5:08 PM
Makes one wonder what the other, more horrific side of this looks like, and how law enforcement and even begin to separate truth from fiction
techterrierJan 25, 2026, 5:11 PM
In this instance, we've already got law enforcement using fiction to obfuscate fact.

Probably not long before we see sora style videos of a 'new angle' of a controversial event, showing that the protestor / victim did in face have a gun / deserve it

anon7725Jan 25, 2026, 7:19 PM
Since many people are primed for this video to confirm their worldview, it doesn't even need to be that good. It will spread like wildfire, and its debunking won't. Technically, there is no reason why this can't be done today.
boothbyJan 25, 2026, 5:24 PM
Only, it's members of the federal government overtly spreading disinformation and laughing about it. It will be a miracle if anything is left of the law enforcement and judiciary that would push back in three years' time.
mhitzaJan 25, 2026, 5:28 PM
Remeber my shock, first time reading the following news a couple of years back https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 where the faces of indian protesters were photoshoped to smile, in order to downplay their protest.

Image GenAi, just triviliazes the work of those in corrupt power.

Tadpole9181Jan 25, 2026, 8:39 PM
Not only did they make her cry, they also darkened her skin.
HamukoJan 25, 2026, 5:15 PM
This is 100% within my expectations of how long it would take.
miltonlostJan 25, 2026, 5:05 PM
If only everyone could have predicted this happen!
avreeJan 25, 2026, 5:26 PM
Don't really understand how "AI" ties into this.

This administration has been photoshopping and editing pictures long before AI, here's https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-p... some examples from 2019 where they used shops to make him thin.

WickyNilliamsJan 25, 2026, 5:42 PM
Yes of course this could've been done in photoshop. But a convincing Photoshop effort takes someone with years of experience working for likely hours. AI can churn out this kind of image in seconds, operated entirely by someone with zero skill or experience. It lowers the bar significantly, increasing the scope and scale of the output.

For the same reason a fully automatic weapon is substantively different from a bolt action rifle, despite both being guns.

It's also a fundamentally different scenario. Photoshoot-style touchups - likely at the request of the subject himself - for pure vanity, versus doctored images of an unwilling citizen (who presumably hasn't been convicted yet and is therefore considered innocent) as propaganda

secabeenJan 25, 2026, 5:13 PM
Slander and libel laws are complicated, but she should have a pretty good case:

- The defendant knew or should have know that he or she was making an untrue or defamatory statement about you. (Yes, they edited the photo.)

- The false statement must clearly identify you. (It's a clear photo.)

- The defendant must have spread the false information to at least one third party who is not the target. For a libel case, they must do so in print, and for a slander case, they must do so verbally. (They posted it on Social Media.)

- The false statement must have damaged your character in some way. (Probably? This is the hardest one, but it's reasonable that the message that a "Far-Left" agitator would cry when arrested, rather than being stoic and strong could cause damage to her reputation or character.

https://askalawlibrarian.nycourts.gov/legalresearch/faq/3677...

Drunk_EngineerJan 25, 2026, 5:19 PM
IANAL but she could also have a good case that it will be impossible for her to get a fair trial.

Some potential jurors will have seen these doctored photos. With the prosecution putting out obviously false info then it calls into question their credibility and any other evidence presented at trial.

smwJan 25, 2026, 7:02 PM
Federal government can't be sued for defamation. "Federal sovereign immunity" basically says the government can't be sued unless it agrees to waive the immunity, and it doesn't for defamation cases.
alright2565Jan 25, 2026, 5:28 PM
The supreme court will declare them immune to the suit, if they haven't already done so.
mothballedJan 25, 2026, 5:19 PM
[flagged]
throwaway81523Jan 25, 2026, 5:05 PM
Memes might continue but WH credibility won't. As if there was any in the first place.
torlokJan 25, 2026, 5:09 PM
The voter base doesn't care. Federal agents are sent to a state against the governor's will, a man gets shot and killed while carrying a holstered pistol, and all the MAGA 2nd amendment republicans think this was a justified killing because he had a gun on him.
daviddever23boxJan 25, 2026, 5:17 PM
Their voter base - and not the rest of us.

There will be a reckoning - and it may originate from the most unexpected place.

LanceHJan 25, 2026, 7:08 PM
The other side of the voters has happily expanded the power of the executive for decades while demonizing those who would put in some restraint. Both sides do this and here we are. The people voting against Trump still gave him power, just not while he was in office.
tasukiJan 25, 2026, 5:41 PM
When and where from?
invalidOrTakenJan 25, 2026, 5:12 PM
> Federal

> against the governor's will

that's kind of the idea

UtopiaPunkJan 26, 2026, 5:11 AM
Can you elaborate?
whateveracctJan 25, 2026, 5:21 PM
their voter base is drenched in lies and agitprop spewing 24/7 from the computer in their pockets
loudmaxJan 25, 2026, 5:17 PM
Arguably, that's the point. For post-truth politicians, the objective isn't to present a narrative as objectively factual, but to bring the entire notion of factual objectivity into question.

It's not "This is the truth." Rather, it's "The truth is unknowable." If nobody knows what's true and false anyway, there's no reason to concern yourself with "facts" that disturb your preconceptions.

b450Jan 25, 2026, 5:29 PM
> White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr defended the post after criticism of the image manipulation.

> “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Dorr wrote.

The banner image on Dorr's X account reads: "oMg, diD tHe wHiTE hOuSE reALLy PosT tHiS?"

You're right, and I'd add that the agenda goes well beyond muddying the waters. This administration is deliberately normalizing bad faith, lying, and trolling. Discrediting critics as humorless, pathetic pearl-clutchers. I don't believe that their supporters strictly "believe" in Trump's alternate reality - they know that Trump and his cronies lie non-stop, and they like it. Accepting these lies serves as a shibboleth and lays the groundwork for discrediting fair elections, bogus prosecutions of political opponents, and everything else this administration is doing to corruptly hold on to power and demoralize their opponents.

anon7725Jan 25, 2026, 7:26 PM
The corollary is that literally everything that the US government communicates should be assumed to be a lie. Even normal, boring announcements from the USDA and such are communicated in the voice of a terminally-online twitter troll.
tokaiJan 25, 2026, 5:37 PM
Its the Firehose of falsehood. Pioneered in Putin's Russia. It is extremely effective.
madeofpalkJan 25, 2026, 5:19 PM
Credibility is irrelevant. As you said, they never had it to begin with yet here we are.

Dunking on the administration only serves to pat one another on the back and not make any actual political progress.

salamandermanJan 25, 2026, 5:38 PM
Hey fellow nerds, never forget that your inventions will be turned into a weapon. We must always consider how dangerous that weapon will be. And there you go, generative AI being used by an authoritarian government to slander and defame political opponents. It's not the first time, I'm sure, and they've been using it for propaganda memes and NFT trash for a while, but this is the most blatant I've seen. It's not obviously altered, it's very believable, and it's for a minor dissident, a protest organizer. I'm really scared.
ronbentonJan 25, 2026, 5:13 PM
It seems you can always without fail count on this administration to do the wrong thing
andrewflnrJan 25, 2026, 5:21 PM
You really can. Even when they superficially appear to have a good idea, or a middling idea with a potentially good side effect, they consistently find a way to mess up the details and dodge any potential good outcomes.
verdvermJan 25, 2026, 5:21 PM
look at their court briefings, they try do the same thing illegal in as many ways as possible, the goal is to break as much as they can, the constitution being a primary target

#Project2025

JohnTHallerJan 26, 2026, 12:43 AM
taylodlJan 25, 2026, 5:24 PM
Can you imagine what Goebbel could have accomplished with the tools we have today? Unfortunately, now we don't have to.
HtmlProgrammerJan 25, 2026, 5:21 PM
This is very upsetting to see.

I am more and more concerned for my American based friends by the day

whateveracctJan 25, 2026, 5:34 PM
> [flagged]

Now surely, this won't stay removed from the front page. This is highly relevant to tech current events and therefore HN.

HerringJan 25, 2026, 5:23 PM
Reminder that the most reliable way to prevent the rise of the far right is to implement robust safety nets and low inequality, to reduce status anxiety and grievance.

Europe found that out the hard way, and America is in the early stages of realizing it.

morgengoldJan 25, 2026, 5:31 PM
If we (Europe) are not careful, we will have to find out this pretty soon again.
HerringJan 25, 2026, 7:07 PM
It's so tricky. You can do most things right like Denmark/Netherlands, then you mess up just one (housing) and the far-right surges. Now you can't import immigrants to deal with your aging population, which means you're on a timer.

Or your neighbor goes far-right (US, maybe eventually Germany/France) and suddenly they start objecting to your internal policies (eg regulating big tech).

Or Russia+Covid combo suddenly inflating all kinds of prices, and again the far right surges.

I think it's going to be a dramatic few decades.

ChrisArchitectJan 25, 2026, 6:14 PM
danoramaJan 25, 2026, 5:19 PM
Not to be too reductive, but while there are some amazing technical achievements there, generative AI seems to be really good for individuals (particularly wealthy ones) and bad for society as a whole. I can create lots of neat new things for my own purposes while social trust dissolves in a sea of slop.

Collective action problems are just the worst.

phplovesongJan 25, 2026, 5:10 PM
The US has become such a disgusting place. A failed democracy.
loudmaxJan 25, 2026, 5:20 PM
As a US citizen, I'm proud of Minnesotans for standing up for American values.
mothballedJan 25, 2026, 5:21 PM
It's nice that they're doing it. And they are certainly the bravest we have to offer; much braver than you or I.

That said, the bravest we have are asking that they please not be murdered. And then peacefully kneeling down to be executed, even when they are armed.

Obviously this only emboldens the murderers. The options moving forward look bleak.

filoelevenJan 25, 2026, 6:24 PM
The instant there is armed pushback, Trump will declare martial law. It's entirely plausible that had there not been so many people with cameras around, this would have been used as the excuse.

The best thing to do is to be out there recording everything. You are right that they are emboldened, so you're putting yourself in danger by filming. When people continue to do that despite the danger, and despite the internal or external pressure to escalate, it shows more people what's really happening.

I've witnessed people change their position on ICE's actions based on the video evidence of the last killing. Videos 1 and 2 weren't convincing to them, but the 3rd angle was. That's important, because they now know that the administration is lying in the face of directly contradicting evidence.

tremonJan 25, 2026, 9:08 PM
will declare martial law

I don't understand how that will be meaningfully different from what is happening already?

mike50Jan 26, 2026, 12:40 AM
Use the actual military with more personnel tanks and air support.
filoelevenJan 25, 2026, 9:35 PM
Suspension of 2026 midterm elections
hackable_sandJan 26, 2026, 2:53 AM
What a bitchy comment

Do yourself a favor and sit this one out while the rest of us fix it.

spencerflemJan 25, 2026, 5:30 PM
I’m not convinced we’d be in a better place if the ICE officer had been shot in self defense. It’s a really powerful story and cements to ‘normal people’ who are just barely following the news what ICE is like.

FWIW I do think things might be different later but there’s still a lot of room for escalation left

madeofpalkJan 25, 2026, 5:21 PM
I find it very difficult to come to a different conclusion. What is tolerated in the United States is deplorable.
whateveracctJan 25, 2026, 5:23 PM
Failing - I didn't hear no bell.

We have a fascist President, yes. We will see if this means we have a fascist government within the next decade.

ku-manJan 25, 2026, 5:13 PM
[dead]
webdoodleJan 25, 2026, 5:12 PM
The only reason A.I. is being pushed is to control the narrative, because human moderators can still choose to let the counter message slip through.
SilverElfinJan 25, 2026, 5:11 PM
Here’s a direct link to the tweet from the White House deputy communications director that said this, after being caught red handed altering photos to spread propaganda and lying to the public:

https://xcancel.com/Kaelan47/status/2014410500096856358

Even crazier is the reply further down on that post from the deputy press secretary, Abigail Jackson, making fun of people who debunked that post like Snopes:

https://xcancel.com/abigailmarone/status/2014411002561863790

It’s horrifying but shows that they’re completely shameless about lying. And shameless about being aggressive and obscene. You see this from the other people too like press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who regularly abuses journalists asking reasonable questions.

And more horrifying are all the accounts replying in support of this. That’s evidence of the hardcore MAGA base that’ll support Trump no matter what he does, I guess.

squigzJan 25, 2026, 5:20 PM
> And more horrifying are all the accounts replying in support of this. That’s evidence of the hardcore MAGA base that’ll support Trump no matter what he does, I guess.

I'd just like to say that judging public perception based on online comments, in 2026, is probably not a good indicator at all. Sort of ironic having to point this out in a thread about AI faked images, but...

hhhJan 25, 2026, 5:27 PM
Why? There’s plenty of people disavowing their actions and plenty supporting them. There will be plenty of blue checkmarks with full face shown selfdoxxing while they gleefully call for more to be killed.
squigzJan 25, 2026, 5:30 PM
There is lots of propaganda being pushed online with fake accounts. Checkmarks and pictures of a face do not make a real account.
hhhJan 25, 2026, 10:14 PM
my point is that there’s enough information that it’s a selfdoxx of it being an actual person that you can find from the information given there alone.

Plenty of people pay for the ‘i think my opinion matters more’ boost button, malicious propagandist or regular person alike

SilverElfinJan 25, 2026, 6:00 PM
That could be true. But the damage is real still. Posts by bots influence real people. If Twitter / X has lots of fake accounts, we need to figure out how to force them to do something about it. I’m sure they can do more about bots if the replies on most big accounts are mostly bots. If they aren’t mostly bots, then that’s a problem of a different kind. But mass spam by bots can still corrupt our political process.
squigzJan 25, 2026, 6:03 PM
> It influences real people

Sure, but only because people think that that's what the public really thinks.

SwoerdJan 25, 2026, 5:20 PM
[dead]
codybJan 25, 2026, 5:18 PM
[flagged]
codybJan 25, 2026, 5:20 PM
Non-violent protest only! Encouraged by me based on successes at Selma, in India, and in response to the killing of George Floyd.

It's a long, inexorable march, but violence only perpetuates more violence and reduces sympathy for the protest movement.

filoelevenJan 25, 2026, 6:14 PM
Not sure why this is being downvoted. It's from the same poster who just gave all the info.

It mirrors what is working in Minneapolis. It shows public outrage at what is happening. The absence of violence in the crowd makes it even clearer that ICE are the ones provoking incidents. It helps city and state officials make their case that their people need protection from ICE, not the other way around.

codybJan 25, 2026, 6:18 PM
There's a lot of folk out here downvoting my protest and boycott encouragement. I just assume they're do nothing goobers or worse.

The sad fact is, even most of the people who're sympathetic to democracy and human rights will do just about zero to protect or fight for them.

I don't really know what else to do though, so I keep trying!

paperwalletJan 26, 2026, 1:01 AM
Working with your local government and particpating in it will create greater change because you have the ability to influence laws at a local level.

From there, it opens doors to working with towns and eventually the state.

States have the power to override Federal laws in greater numbers.

This is by design. If you dont understand how your country works, the systems that run it, then you will fail.

Awareness helps, but it rarely changes things. Participating in the democratic process creates the potential for change before it's too late.

codybJan 26, 2026, 3:58 AM
Sure. I participate quite frequently through calls, donations, and voting.

But I'm not sure if you've looked at the news lately... we're pretty far into "too late".

Non-violent protest movements have a great record of creating real, and sustained change. Whether that's in India, or the civil rights and gay rights and suffrage and abolition movements here, peaceful protest is a powerful way to send a message to the people in your governments what you and the rest of the people there support and expect of them.

It's a great way to meet folk, to get good energy, to get a message out, to get a little exercise and fresh air, and to support your causes in an effective and, relatively light time commitment manner.

relaxingJan 25, 2026, 7:19 PM
It’s both condescending and unhelpful, since the people doing the violence aren’t on here reading hn.
codybJan 25, 2026, 7:51 PM
You found my message condescending? Lol. You must be really easily offended
cocodillJan 25, 2026, 5:11 PM
[flagged]
danoramaJan 25, 2026, 5:41 PM
[flagged]
miltonlostJan 25, 2026, 5:47 PM
Glad you love fascism and don't think its use of Gen AI is worth discussing
danoramaJan 25, 2026, 5:48 PM
Apologies. I forget the /s is mandatory in 2026, since the world is so weird that it's really not obvious any more.
miltonlostJan 25, 2026, 5:50 PM
Ah, I had replied before your parenthetical addition. That portion made the /s clear.
whateveracctJan 25, 2026, 5:48 PM
(it was sarcasm i'm p sure)