White House On Kate Middleton Pic Controversy: "We Don't Do That"

The White House on Tuesday waded into the controversy around the edited family photo of Princess of Wales Kate Middleton, saying they don't alter the photos of the President of the United States, or the Vice-President, before releasing them. The comment was made by White House chief spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre who was asked if President Biden is following the controversy that has broken out over Kate Middleton's photo.

"Not that I know of, I would say no. Why would we digitally alter photos? Are you comparing us to what is going on in the UK?" Ms Jean-Pierre said, according to The Independent.

She, however, added that Biden administration wished Kate Middleton well after her recent surgery.

"We will offer speedy recovery and I'm just gonna leave it there. I don't have anything else to share," the White House spokesperson said.

The controversy started after the Princess of Wales shared a family snap of herself with her children on Mother's Day. The photo was withdrawn by news agencies after it was found to have been "manipulated".

The princess later apologised, saying, "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing."

The 42-year-old was said to be "very sad" that a happy family photo had sparked such an uproar.

But the fiasco gave way to a fresh swirl of speculation about the British royal - dubbed online as "Katespiracy" - laying bare the fragility of the digital landscape in the age of rampant disinformation that has eroded trust and turned social media users into amateur sleuths.

The internet guessing game had already begun after the princess was not seen in public since attending a Christmas Day church service and underwent abdominal surgery in January.

The manipulated image dropped at a time when concerns around false or misleading visual information are at an all-time high, particularly following the rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence.

The controversy also prompted many to ask whether British royals had altered images before, with media outlets such as CNN saying they were reviewing all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace.