A key example is the climate crisis. Despite unequivocal satellite images, videos, and scientific data, many deny the issue. This denial stems not from a lack of visual evidence but from narratives skillfully crafted by economic power groups and complacent media. Even without Photoshop or AI, images have always been shaped by choices about what to show and what to hide: deciding what to photograph and how is already the first act of falsification.

Joan Fontcuberta, an artist and photography theorist, argues that photography belongs more to the realm of fiction than reality. He states, “A good photographer is one who lies well about the truth,” emphasizing that image manipulation is intrinsic to photography itself.

From 19th-century photo retouching to Gulf War images, it is clear that technology does not determine an image’s truthfulness; the accompanying narrative does. If we see a video of a UFO on an obscure website, we tend to doubt it; if the same video appears on a trusted news broadcast or in an authoritative newspaper, we are more likely to believe it. This demonstrates that the source matters more than the content.

Thus, we should not fear the falsification of documents as much as the power wielded by those who spread disinformation.