Does a real photo show Edinburgh Castle displaying Argentine flags ahead of the World Cup match against England on July 15, 2026? No, that's not true: The image appears to have been digitally edited. The Argentine flags were added to an older photo of the Scottish landmark. A reverse image search shows the original photo predates the 2026 World Cup by more than two years and does not show the flags displayed on the castle.
The claim appeared in a post and image (archived here) by the @WestPilton account on X on July 14, 2026. It read:
Edinburgh Castle showing it's [sic] support for Argentina in the World Cup #Argentina #WorldCup #Scotland
This is what the image in the post looked like:
(Image source: post by @WestPilton on X.)
A July 14, 2026, reverse image search (archived here) using Google Images found a post and image (archived here) by @Sensitive_Counter150 on Reddit on Jan. 23, 2024 (archived here), matching the one from the post on X, other than the Argentine flags. It read:
Help me identify the see flags I saw on my trip to Edinburgh
This is what the image in the post looked like:
(Image source: post by @Sensitive_Counter150 on Reddit.)
The original and edited versions are side by side below. The only difference in the two photos is the flags of Argentina flying at the entrance to the castle. The people around the entrance (highlighted in yellow) are the same, as are the other features of the facade and Castle Hill (circled in red):
(Image source: posts by @WestPilton on X and @Sensitive_Counter150 on Reddit.)
It is not clear what type of photo editing was used to make the change to the original image, but all three Argentine flags added to the castle are identical and also appear to be surrounded by a translucent rectangle (highlighted in green above).
