MILAN – A photo of Matteo Salvini with members of his League party went viral on Twitter after viewers noticed irregularities in the face masks worn by the group, leading to speculation that the Covid-19 protection measures had been added onto the photo afterwards. Salvini clarified on Tuesday that the strange phenomenon was due to a ‘sharpness filter.’

 At first glance the group photo, posted on Twitter by Salvini on Monday, appears normal. Upon closer inspection, the outline of mouths and noses appear to show through the heavy-duty FFP2 masks and the ear straps of others seem to be non-existent.

 Twitter users commented that the facemasks seemed to be fake, as if they were added using Photoshop after the photo had been taken. 

 By Tuesday, the reason for the surreal effect was explained. Salvini commented to say, “correction - here is the original photo without the ‘sharpness filter’ which made faces appear on the masks of those present," adding his wish to now get "back to work.”

 Other Twitter users confirmed that the editing software ‘Remini’ had caused the look, but not before many users had enjoyed poking fun at the incident, making memes and posting with the ‘sharpness filter’ hashtag (#filtronitidezza).

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