pics or it didn't happen

• pictures or it didn't happen

Suggesting the denial of the veracity of a report of the event by demanding pictures thereof as proof. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. first use etc.

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pics or it didn't happen

1. (Internet slang, humorous) Used to request a picture of a reported event, especially on an Internet forum.
   • 2013, Jade C. Jamison, Quickies: Sexy Short Stories and Other Stuff, page 89:

     Pug Nose: “Oh, he will.”
     “Pics or it didn't happen.”

   • 2014, Jessa Holbrook, While You're Away‎, Penguin, →ISBN:

     “I just got out of the shower,” I explained. Will pointed down, asking playfully, “Pics or it didn't happen.” “No pics,” I snorted. “No Snapchats, no video. Sorry.”

   • 2015 February 26, Jacob Silverman, “‘Pics or it didn’t happen’ – the mantra of the Instagram era”, in The Guardian‎:

     Don’t think, just post it. “Pics or it didn’t happen” – that is the populist mantra of the social networking age. Show us what you did, so that we may believe and validate it.

   • 2016, Jan E. Stets, Richard T. Serpe, New Directions in Identity Theory and Research, page 147:

     This normative expectation is perhaps best captured in the popular colloquial phrase: “Pics or it didn't happen.”

   • 2016, Aimee Friedman, Two Summers, Point, →ISBN, page 195:

     “Nah. It can be so fake. People just post things that make them look good. You never get the whole story.” I look at my phone in my hand. Pics or it didn’t happen! Ruby likes to say.

2. (Internet slang, humorous) Used to demand verifiable evidence for a statement.