Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Heartbreaking photo of mother hugging her child even in death, following the multiple devastating landslides that happened in Wayanad, Kerala, last week, killing at least 300 people.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here. We received this claim on our Whatsapp tipline (9999499044), too, requesting us to fact-check it.
Fact
Newschecker noticed that the image was blurry in some parts and unnaturally sharp in other areas, indicating that it may have been created by AI.
We ran a reverse image search, which led us to the same photo shared on Instagram on July 1, 2024, close to a month before the landslides that happened on July 30, 2024.
We then ran the image past Hive Moderation, an AI content detection tool, which stated it was “98.9% likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content”. Another tool, HuggingFace, stated it was 89% likely to be AI generated.
Also Read: No, Viral Video Does Not Show Pandit Shivkumar’s Grandson Playing Santoor
Result: Altered Media
Sources
Instagram post, July 1, 2024
Hive Moderation tool
HuggingFace tool
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
