Image showing Pride flags from 2022 incorrectly shared as being from the day of D-Day commemorations in 2024

What's the claim? 

Social media users have shared an image of rainbow-colored Pride flags hung above a street, claiming it is a picture of raised flags on the day of D-Day commemorations in the U.K. in 2024. 

D-Day was commemorated on June 6, 2024, to mark the 80th anniversary of the operation initiated by the Allied troops — United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Canada — on the occupied lands of France in 1944 during World War II.

A user on Facebook shared the image (archived here) with the caption: "U.K. 🇬🇧 Today is D Day and what flags were flown on Regent Street in London to celebrate it? These. Yes, we celebrate the way people choose to have sex, not the people who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of others. A DISGRACE."

Social media users have also criticized Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for "allowing" Pride flags to fly on D-Day instead of the U.K. flag (archived here and here). 

Screenshot of the viral image shared online. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim is false because the image is from 2022.

In fact

A reverse image search led us to the same image (archived here) shared on Shutterstock, a stock image website, on July 7, 2022. The image was captioned: "Rainbow Intersex-Inclusive Pride flags hang above Regent Street in London in celebration of 50 years of Pride in the U.K." The image was attributed to BBA Photography. Elements in this image, like the buildings, flags, the vehicles, and the cyclist, match the viral image.

Screenshot of the Shutterstock image. (Source: Shutterstock) 

Euronews reported that intersex-inclusive Pride flags, designed by Valentino Vecchiette, were hung up in Regent Street. The Telegraph also reported on the move in an article on June 22, 2022. June has been celebrated as Pride Month since 1969 to mark the Stonewall riots when the LGBTQ community staged a protest in New York against the discrimination faced by the police force in America, Youth.gov reports.

This confirms that the image is from 2022, and the flags were put up to celebrate Pride Month.

The verdict

A two-year-old image showing flags in Regent Street in London has been misrepresented as a more recent image. It was not taken on the day of D-Day commemorations.