An image which appears to be a statement from City of York Council about flag displays causing “distress” has been circulating widely on social media.

But there’s absolutely no evidence that the image, which has been liked thousands of times across posts shared on Facebook, and has been shared over 2,000 times on X, shows a genuine statement issued by the local authority. City of York Council says it’s issued no such statement, and a local MP has described the image as “AI misinformation”.

The supposed statement shown in the image says: “City of York Council recognises that recent flag displays across the city have caused distress. Many residents experience these flags as racist, exclusionary, and rooted in imperialist history.”

It adds “flags are not neutral” and can carry “racist and imperialist meanings”, “reminders of past oppression” and “signals that make marginalised groups feel unsafe”.

It adds: “City of York Council stands with residents—especially our diverse communities—who feel targeted or intimidated by these symbols.”

It is attributed to the council’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion team.

But when Full Fact contacted City of York Council about the image, it told us the team has not issued “any communications or statements on flags”.

It added: “We can confirm that this information and wording has never been published by City of York Council.”

With claims like this it can be hard to definitively prove that a large organisation has never used a certain form of words in any forum. But we also searched the council’s website, and social media channels, and couldn’t find any evidence that such a statement, or a statement with similar wording, had been published by it.

One of the earliest examples of the image we could find online was a post on X shared on 7 June. Luke Charters, the Labour MP for York Outer, replied to this post, saying it was “AI misinformation”. The poster also appeared to concur that it was faked, saying in response: “Correct. But a legitimate talking point.”

However, in September last year, City of York Council said it would remove England, Union and ‘other flags’ from public infrastructure after hundreds of flags were put up across the city. The council said they had been put up without permission, and that an increase in flag flying had coincided with an increase in racist incidents.

Council leader Councillor Claire Douglas was also quoted as saying that “flying the flag stirs memories for some members of our communities of their experience of racism and persecution”.

Another clue the poster isn’t something official from the council is the logo at the top, which doesn’t resemble the real crest.

Fake adverts promoting non-existent initiatives and job roles such as a “volunteer pothole repairer” and “volunteer flag removers” using City of York Council’s logo also appeared online last December.

Before sharing content like this that you see on social media, it’s important to consider whether it really comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Our Full Fact misinformation toolkit contains guides on how to spot bad information.