Mass media are one of many institutions that contributes to the construction of stereotypical images of ageing and old age and studies have shown that older people have primarily been associated with negative depictions in newspapers and television programs. In recent years, European public bureaucracies have increasingly used social media tools for communicating with citizens. However, few ageing research and media research have dealt with public administrators and their work routines of depicting older citizens in social media. This study aims to investigate how Swedish local authorities generate social media pictures of older people, and what consequences the institutional practices may have on reducing ageist representations. This research performed an analysis on the Facebook photos of older people posted by local authorities and conducted semi-structured interviews with communicators in the aspects of sourcing and selecting photos of older people, designing and evaluating social media posts. This study found that communication guidelines and assignments from the municipality (re)direct communication resources and practices which may decrease the proportion of pictures of older people. Moreover, it found that local authorities have been adaptive to social media and published favourable photos of active and healthy older people, while they failed to address the heterogeneity of older people when it comes to health and function. While the institutional practices of capturing positive later life may contribute to up-grading stereotypical images of older people as sick and dependent, they could simultaneously be considered as ableist and as giving a false impression of long term care.