When is "backshifting" optional?

In reported speech, tenses are generally backshifted. If what was said is still true at the time of reporting then back shifting is optional. My question is, if someone doesn't backshift the tense knowing for a fact that the statement is no longer true, is that still acceptable?

For example, suppose John tells me today:

I am hungry.

Then two days later, I happen to tell my friend:

John said that he is hungry.

Even though I know that John is no longer hungry, I used the present simple tense (is). Is this usage correct?

Solution 1:

If you know John isn't hungry, but you don't backshift the tense in the reported speech, then you've implied that something is true (namely that John is still hungry) when you know it isn't.

This isn't the forum to tell you whether that's wrong. Check to see if there's a stackexchange for tricky moral issues. Grammar rules aren't likely to help.

I find this site helpful in summarizing the rules for backshifting reported speech: https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/reported-speech-backshift.htm