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.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Image shows a church that survived California wildfires.
The archived version of the post can be seen here, which has clocked 5.6 million views so far.
Fact
Newschecker ran a keyword search for “church survives California wildfires”, which did not lead us to any such photo or report of a church that was miraculously spared in the wildfires. We came across this January 11, 2025 AP news report, which states that numerous houses of worship were destroyed in the fires.
Newschecker noticed the extra glossy texture of the photo, indicating that it may be AI-generated. We ran the image past an AI-content detection tool, Hive Moderation, which stated it was 98.3% likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content. Another tool, AI Image Detector, leaned towards the image being AI-generated at 63.31%, while Fake Image Detector concluded that the image was likely computer-generated or modified.
Earlier, Newschecker had debunked a viral image on January 13, 2025, claiming to show a mosque that remained unscathed by the Los Angeles blaze, finding it to be an old photo of a house that survived the devastating Hawaii wildfires in 2023.
Also Read: Video Of Drunk Man Being Thrashed For Urinating On Mahakumbh Poster Viral With False Communal Claim
Result: Altered Image
Sources
Hive Moderation tool
AI Image Detector
Fake Image Detector
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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.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
