An old photo with Giorgia Meloni has become the center of a viral fake news story on social media. The photo, taken over two decades ago, has been fraudulently attributed to the prime minister's father, feeding an entirely unsubstantiated story. Marco Squarta, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Brothers of Italy party and the subject of the photograph, rejected the claim. He condemned a "lie constructed from scratch" and the exploitation of his image, threatening legal action. “That man is me, I was 22 years old and even younger than her", he explained, highlighting the absurdity of the online reconstruction. On social media, numerous users said that the image contradicted Meloni's assertions about her relationship with her father, which ended when she was a child. A baseless interpretation built on misidentification. The Prime Minister also reacted sharply, dismissing the matter with irony: “We’re not even at mud-slinging anymore. We’re at cabaret".