The Economist has not published 'apocalypse' cover featuring ...

Posts on social media are sharing what appears to be a cover of The Economist magazine featuring US President-elect Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin with the word ‘apocalypse’ beneath them. But this is not a genuine cover. 

The image features illustrations of the two politicians facing each other with missiles in the background. The layout resembles other recent covers for The Economist with the publication’s masthead in the top left corner alongside a list of articles in the edition on the right. 

Multiple Facebook posts have shared the image with the caption: “‘The Economist’ warms up the audience with apocalyptic images. But what does Trump have to do with it if Biden’s gang is starting a nuclear war? Apparently, this is what they are going to leave Trump as an inheritance.” Mr Trump will be inaugurated and become US President for the second time on 20 January 2025. 

However, this is not a genuine cover of The Economist. It has not been shared on the publication’s archive of past editions, or elsewhere on its website. 

There are other telltale signs that this is not a genuine cover. Firstly, it does not include a publication date, as all other issues do, and there are several grammar and spelling errors in the list of included articles. What’s more, all but one of these headlines are listed correctly on the cover of the 16 March titled ‘America’s pumped-up economy’.

The Economist edition for 24 February 2024 did feature a different illustration of President Putin and Mr Trump with the title ‘Is Europe ready?’

The image of the fake Economist cover was shared in a Telegram post on 19 November which now has over 40,000 views. The caption says in Russian (translated by Google): “Permission to launch missile strikes deep into Russia is the beginning of the Third World War, warns the prophetic magazine The Economist”.   

It adds: “In the warning for December-January: what kind of radical measures will Russia take in response, which countries will intervene in the conflict and who will be the first to use nuclear weapons”. 

This caption seems to refer to the US granting permission for Ukraine to fire long-range missiles at targets within Russia and reports that missiles supplied by the UK and the US have been used to strike inside the country. 

The post also shared a link to a Telegram channel named “The Economist” that doesn’t appear to be affiliated with the outlet. 

Full Fact has contacted The Economist for comment on the fake cover, and will update this article if we receive a response. 

This is not the first time an image has been falsely presented as a cover of The Economist—a cartoon depicting US President Joe Biden and President Putin playing chess with a title warning of an “inevitable” nuclear war was debunked by fact checkers at Reuters in June. We’ve written about many other examples of fake covers allegedly from credible media organisations circulating on social media. 

You can find more of our work countering misinformation relating to both the US and the conflict in Ukraine on our website.