Does a real photo show Elon Musk and Ted Cruz posing together while two furries are passing in the background? No, that's not true: A real photo that was posted on Instagram by Ted Cruz has been digitally altered. The changes to the photo are subtle, but unflattering. The faces of the two men have been changed to take away their smiles and age them. Two furries with convention lanyards have been added in the background.
The altered image (archived here) was posted on X by OWS1892 on Jan. 14, 2026. It is captioned:
All the money & power in the world can't prevent them looking like the inadequate little men they are.
This is the altered image as it appeared on X at the time of writing:
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from x.com/OWS1892/status/2011389150545789319.)
Ted Cruz had posted (archived here) the original photo (embedded below) on his verified Instagram account on Jan. 12, 2026. It was captioned:
Always great seeing this guy! 🚀
Lead Stories matched the image which had been cropped and altered over the original image and made a GIF to show the differences between the two.
(Image Source: Lead Stories GIF with screenshots from x.com/OWS1892/status/2011389150545789319 and instagram.com/p/DTb757ngJqh.)
