Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz did not write Guardian opinion article about ‘dancing on stage naked’

A screenshot of a Guardian article about male bonding and “dancing on stage naked”  has been altered to appear as if written by Democratic vice presidential candidate and Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz.

The screenshot, which appears to be of an opinion piece on the Guardian website, features the headline: “Male bonding doesn’t have to be about bravado and bros. Dancing on stage naked taught me a better way”. 

While the headline of the piece, published on 26 August, is accurate, it was not written by Mr Walz. It was actually authored by a Swedish writer called Gunnar Ardelius. 

Posts including the image have been shared on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).

The altered image includes the byline of Mr Walz, and a photo of him which appears to be an edited version of an image from 2018, which has been flipped horizontally.

Archived versions of the story show that it was always published with Mr Ardelius’s byline and portrait.

This is not the first time we have seen Guardian opinion articles edited to appear with fake headlines, or as if written by different authors, and we have previously fact checked a number of these.

Misleading images are some of the most common kinds of misinformation we see online, but they can sometimes be hard to spot. It’s always worth checking if social media pictures show what the post says they do before you share them—we have written guides on how to do so here.