The problem is that the altered images represent a still plausible theory. There is a reason why they were believed in the first place. It isn’t that these false images are negative evidence. Instead, they don’t help or refute the underlying hypothesis at all.

The real question (that I’m not sure about) is if anyone else has been able for replicate the original experiment.

There have been many subsequent studies which generate evidence in support of the underlying idea.

As they say, it only takes one result to disprove a theory, but nobody has been able to do so to date.