Well, not necessarily. How about just embedding the following in the EXIF tag: digital signatures from the original camera; digital hashes of the original image; digital sigs for the publisher and the article where the pics will appear.
Any additional processing by a “social media content creator” - for example, adding captions to make a meme out of it - will also include the prior chain of digital sigs and hashes.
Now when it pops up on social media sites/apps, there can be little info bubbles that link to the original pic or article, or provide info on ownership of the camera along with date and timestamps of the pics.
Garbage will always exist on social media, but at least we can have these little tools to verify authentic images.
I can’t even tell if you’re being sarcastic or if you actually believe this.
Ofcourse you should trust the footage from the US forces fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan because they’re backed by a democratic government and wouldn’t carelessly cause collateral damage, shoot innocent civilians, torture detainees, and then jail the whistleblowers. /s