claim: A screenshot of a Saudi news story showing Germany's leader with pixelated hair is a hoax.
origin: In May 2017, German chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with that countryâ€™s leaders. Â According to news reports, she chose to not don the traditional womenâ€™s garb of that area for the diplomatic visit: < German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with its top leaders Sunday â€”but she chose not to wear the traditional headscarf and full-length robe that women and girls who live in the country are forced to wear. It was Merkelâ€™s first trip to Saudi Arabia in seven years. Women visiting the country are not legally required to cover their hair or wear a robe, but diplomatic officials have advised them to do so or face possible arrest. > Shortly after the visit, an image on social mediaÂ purported to show thatÂ Merkelâ€™s hair had been censored on Saudi television: Despite the fact that this tweet says itâ€™s â€œnot a joke,â€ it actually is, quite literally, a joke. TheÂ image originated with a Facebook page called â€œKhase News,â€ which shared it with aÂ caption that reads: â€œJust for fun.â€ They also clarified in the comment section that they areÂ a â€œsatirical pageâ€ and that the post was intended to beÂ ironic: A spokesman for Khase News told a British newsÂ outletÂ that the doctored photograph was created and disseminated to make a specific political point:Â < Saudi Arabia is one the most oppressive regimes in the world and in the Middle East,â€ a spokesperson for Khase News told i. â€œThe photo is criticising the fact that in Saudi it is forbidden for a woman to show her hair. â€œYet when a powerful like Merkel comes, [the regime] does nothing about it.â€ > The original photographÂ is also not a still from a television clip; instead, it was released by the Saudi Press Agency: AÂ screenshot from the Saudi channel Al-Ekhbariya, provided here by Swedish news outletÂ Metro.seÂ in a pieceÂ debunking the image, alsoÂ shows that Merkelâ€™s hair was not actually pixelated: Saudi Arabiaâ€™s human rights record has received widespread criticism, particularly after the country was elected to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in April 2017. As human rights organizations have pointed out, men in the country retain control over many aspects of theÂ lives of women.