Fact Check: AI-Generated image of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan going viral with misleading claim
The viral photo with the claim that it is the first image that surfaced after the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in a corruption case has been created with the help of an AI tool.
- By: Abhishek Parashar
- Published: May 12, 2023 at 12:21 PM
- Updated: Feb 27, 2024 at 05:56 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News): Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday by the Islamabad police when he reached the Islamabad High Court to appear for a hearing in connection with a corruption case. After his arrest, the Pakistan Tehreek E Insaaf Chief has been sent to 8-day police remand. Now, a picture of Imran Khan has been going viral on the internet with a claim that it is the first picture of Imran Khan from inside the jail premises. Vishvas News in its investigation found that the viral photo of Imran Khan is created with the help of AI tools.
Claim:
Social media user (archive link) ‘Har Khabar Aap Tak’ has shared a link to a news report, claiming that it is the first picture of Imran Khan after his arrest.
Several other users have also shared it (archived link) with the same claim.
Investigation:
We searched the Twitter handle of the Pakistan TV channel ‘Geo News Urdu’ for Imran Khan’s arrest and related news. In the search, we found a tweet dated May 10, in which a picture of Imran Khan was shared where he could be seen inside the court premises after his arrest. A similar picture was also shared by Geo News Urdu in another tweet. The watermark of Geo Exclusive can also be seen in the picture.
Several Indian news organisations have also shared this picture on their Twitter handles.
It is clear by looking at the picture that it is not the picture of Imran Khan after his arrest. The viral post has a link to a report (archive link) by the Hindi news website Aaj Tak. By clicking on the link, the watermark of Mid-Journey exclusive can be seen in the video itself.
We further used reverse image search to find the original source of the viral image and found the viral picture posted on the Facebook profile of ‘Feroz WaXir’. Sharing this picture with a watermark, he mentioned that the image has been created by mid-journey, which is an AI tool to create imaginary images.
Vishvas News has also investigated other such AI-generated images, whose fact-check reports can be read here.
We contacted Pakistani fact-checker and journalist Lubna Zarar Naqvi Naqwari regarding the viral picture. She said that this is a picture prepared with the help of an AI tool. No such picture has come to the fore after the arrest of Imran Khan.
Significantly, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust scam case, has been sent to eight-day custody.
According to the report of Pakistani news website Dawn.com, other leaders of his party have also been detained following the violence and arson in Pakistan after Imran Khan was arrested.
Conclusion: The viral photo with the claim that it is the first image that surfaced after the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in a corruption case has been created with the help of an AI tool.
- Claim Review : First picture of Imran Khan viral on social media
- Claimed By : Fb page: Har Khabar Aap Tak
- Fact Check : False
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