Kate royal photo: In world of 'deep fakes', trust is more valuable and precious than ever before – Scotsman comment

The Princess of Wales’ explanation for the edits to the photograph rings true, but the Royal Family needs to take care to maintain public trust

The edits to the image of Kate and her children were easy to miss but they were not done professionally (Picture: Prince of Wales/Kensington Palace)

When a photograph was issued of the Princess of Wales with her children for Mother’s Day, it was thought the image of the happy, smiling family would help quell rumours and conspiracy theories about her lack of recent public appearances. Instead, it only added to the furore.

Picture agencies initially sent out the photograph to the media, but then issued withdrawal notices after realising it had been digitally manipulated. Catherine has now publicly apologised, saying that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing”.

Modern technology makes this so easy to do – indeed it is marketed as a selling point by smartphone-makers – that it has become commonplace. In the vast majority of cases, its use will be entirely uncontroversial and, we believe, that is the case here.

There is no evidence that an attempt was made to misrepresent Kate’s health or the happiness of her children, or fundamentally alter the ‘meaning’ of the image. The changes were easy to miss but they were not hidden. A deliberate attempt to deceive would have been done far more professionally so the explanation is perfectly plausible.

Get our weekly opinion newsletter for expert analysis from The Scotsman’s team of columnists

However, such technology has terrifying potential. Already the US election has seen deliberately faked images of Donald Trump meeting African Americans posted online by his supporters. Real footage of US President Joe Biden was also altered to make it appear as if he was touching his granddaughter inappropriately – and, astonishingly, this was allowed to circulate on Facebook.

In a world where ‘deep fake’ videos can make politicians appear to say and do whatever the creators want, we all need to be alive to the possibility that we are being deceived. This means that trust and reputation are now more valuable and precious than ever before.

Amid so much fakery, we have to be able to trust official sources of information, particularly from an institution like the Royal Family, which should always be among the most trustworthy sources of information. The affair is a huge embarrassment for them, a reminder of their responsibilities, and a real lesson in how not to quell a social media storm.