Elon Musk reposted the image to his millions of followers
An image that has been shared thousands of times online has almost certainly been made using AI, according to FullFact.
The photo shows people waving union jack flags against the backdrop of what appears to be the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and has been circulating widely online following Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest last Saturday.
Elon Musk, who made a speech at the rally via video link, has also reposted the AI-generated image on X.
The AI image being shared following the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest
Full Fact has said that “this picture is not from that event [the Unite the Kingdom protest] and isn’t genuine. It is very likely an AI-generated image.”
The fact-checking organisation pointed to several clues, including that the landmark in the background looks like the Arc de Triomphe rather than London’s Admiralty Arch, which is currently under renovation.
Full Fact also said they couldn’t find any evidence that the protest entered the mall.
A recent article by EuroNews notes that across Europe, videos and images online are being misleadingly used to distort the scale of nationalist and anti-migrant protests.
For example, in Poland, a drone video of protestors holding the Polish flag has been circulating, which claims to show a million people protesting against “migration” and the Polish “leftist elite”.
However, a reverse image search shows that the footage was taken in November 2023 during Poland’s independence day celebrations in Warsaw.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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