This Photo of Mark Carney and Tom Hanks on “Epstein Island” is Going Viral. The Photo is Completely Fake.
Fake photos insinuating Canada’s new prime minister is linked to crimes of sexual abuse are going viral on Elon Musk’s X
The Claim:
Did Mark Carney visit Jeffrey Epstein’s private island with Tom Hanks?
One recent post on Elon Musk’s X platform presents what purports to be a photo of Canada’s new prime minister lounging on the beach of a notorious sex offender’s private island with an Oscar-winning actor.
“Why was Canada’s new Liberal woke Prime Minister Mark Carney on Epstein Island with Ghislaine Maxwell and Tom Hanks,” asks the post, which has been retweeted 20,000 times and has three-quarters of a million views.
Before his death in 2019, prosecutors and witnesses accused Epstein of trafficking and sexually abusing underage girls at his private island in the US Virgin islands.
While a photo of Canada’s prime minister on “Epstein Island” would be of significant news value, this photo is actually fake — it was generated by artificial intelligence.
GioBruno1600 (X)
Rating: This photo is fake. The image was generated by Grok, an AI chatbot owned by Elon Musk.
About the Source:
The X account that posted the fake photo is anonymous, though it posts primarily about US politics, displays US flags in its bio and self-identifies as a “common sense conservative.” The account was created in 2021 and has over 137,000 followers.
The account’s handle, @GioBruno1600, refers to the Italian Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno who was burned to death in the year 1600 for heretical views and has lately been co-opted by the far-right as a symbol of “cancel culture.”
The account was previously flagged by a right-wing fact-checking website affiliated with the Daily Caller for spreading false claims about Mitt Romney.
GioBruno1600 (X)
The fake photo was generated by Grok, the X platform’s built-in AI assistant that has a feature which can generate realistic-looking AI images using text commands.
X is owned by Elon Musk, the erratic tech billionaire turned right-hand man to US President Donald Trump. Since Trump’s return to the White House, Musk has championed the international far-right, including endorsing Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party.
European regulators and prosecutors are currently investigating allegations Musk is manipulating X’s algorithm to boost far-right political messages. Grok’s AI image feature has also sparked concerns about election misinformation.
Canadian intelligence experts recently expressed concerns about Musk’s technology being used by foreign actors to destabilize Canadian democracy.
How it Spread:
The fake photo was amplified by large accounts outside Canada, including by a French conspiracy theorist affiliated with a conspiratorial media outlet that has hosted Éric Zemmour and figures from his far-right Reconquête party, as well as a media personality from a British far-right conspiracy outlet.
While it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the fake photo first surfaced online, it appears it was circulating at least two months earlier.
On January 11, 2025, an X user named “Moon Pie” posted AI-generated images of Carney with Hanks and Maxwell in the replies of posts by far-right influencers insinuating direct ties between Carney and Epstein.
“Moon Pie” lists their location as Nova Scotia, describes themselves as a “Canadian” and a “Russophile,” and frequently posts in support of Maxime Bernier’s far-right People’s Party of Canada.
The images clearly show a “Grok” watermark in the bottom-right corner of the image, indicating the images are AI-generated (the Grok watermark was cropped out of @GioBruno1600’s March 11 post).
PesteringPotato (X)
On February 13, 2025, an X user named “Old Stock Canadian” posted the fake photo and asked: “How many times were you on Epstein’s island Mr. Carney. Carney hates it when these pictures of him and Maxwell are reposted.”
Although it later received a community note flagging that the image is AI-generated, the fake photo was retweeted nearly 800 times and received 37,000 views.
“Old Stock Canadian” describes itself as a “member of the fringe minority” and posts content promoting Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.
iamcanadian51 (X)
The tweet from “Old Stock Canadian” managed to cross-over to other platforms where it has been shared by thousands more.
On Facebook, a conspiratorial page called “The Rabbit Hole” and a Canadian convoy group called “Patriots for Freedom” reposted the “Old Stock Canadian” tweet but cropped out the original poster’s name and the Grok watermark.
“Patriots for Freedom” is run by Derek Noonan, one of the individuals from a viral video confronting NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on Parliament Hill last fall.
The Reality:
The AI-generated image has absolutely no basis in reality and there is no evidence Carney or Hanks ever visited Epstein’s private island.
While the photo is fake, it is true Carney was once photographed at a public event near Oxford, UK in 2013 next to Epstein’s partner, Ghislane Maxwell — however, there is nothing to suggest this implicates Carney in Epstein or Maxwell’s crimes.
Maxwell, the wealthy daughter of British newspaper baron Robert Maxwell, was indicted on sex trafficking charges in 2020 and convicted in 2022. While Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008, the allegations about Maxwell surfaced publicly two years after the 2013 event.
Carney’s leadership team previously told the right-wing Toronto Sun tabloid Maxwell went to school with Carney’s sister-in-law and that they occasionally “bumped into each other in public settings.” Carney’s team insist they were “not friends” and blames Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives for the attack.
While Poilievre’s Conservatives have attempted to brand Carney as a “globalist,” a loaded term associated with a raft of far-right conspiracies, the party itself has so far steered clear of linking Carney to Epstein themselves.
A number of right-wing alternative media sources and far-right influencers have been vocal in insinuating nefarious yet vague links between Carney and Epstein, such as the right-wing third party group Canada Proud:
Canada Proud (X)
Likewise for Rebel Media, a far-right media outlet whose founder occasionally fills in for Alex Jones as a guest host on InfoWars.
On Friday, Rebel Media parked a billboard truck with signs insinuating links between Carney and “Epstein’s sex trafficker” outside Rideau Hall during Carney’s swearing-in ceremony as prime minister.
Alexandra Lavoie (X)
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request from PressProgress to clarify any details surrounding the fake photo or the insinuations of right-wing groups like Canada Proud or Rebel Media.
Tom Hanks has been at the centre of a number of unfounded QAnon-adjacent conspiracies revolving around “Epstein Island,” including false claims that he supports pedophilia and appearances on fake Epstein VIP guest lists.
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