7 Viral Photos This Week: Real or Fake?

The Claim

Every week, dozens of images go viral on social media, many of them AI-generated or digitally manipulated. This weekly roundup examines seven of the most shared images from the past week, providing quick fact-checks and verdicts for each. Whether you are a casual social media user or a dedicated fact-checker, this compilation will help you understand the current landscape of visual misinformation and sharpen your detection skills.

The Evidence

1. The Pope Wearing a Supreme Jacket — FAKE

An image showed Pope Francis wearing a luxury Supreme brand puffer jacket while greeting crowds. This image, while not new, resurfaced with a new wave of sharing. It was one of the earliest viral AI-generated images that demonstrated the power of tools like Midjourney to create convincing celebrity deepfakes. The image was generated using Midjourney v4 and contains telltale signs including slightly incorrect crucifix proportions and a jacket zipper that defies physical logic upon close inspection.

How to spot it: The jacket's branding is slightly inconsistent with actual Supreme products, and the background crowd shows the characteristic AI-generated face blurring that was common in earlier generation models.

2. A Massive Sinkhole in a Major City — FAKE

An image depicting an enormous sinkhole opening in what appeared to be a major metropolitan downtown area was shared thousands of times with various city attributions. The image showed buildings teetering on the edge of a perfectly circular abyss with emergency vehicles surrounding it. AI detection tools flagged it with 95% confidence, and no news organization or emergency service reported any such event.

How to spot it: The sinkhole is too perfectly circular, the building damage is aesthetically arranged rather than physically realistic, and the emergency vehicle positions do not follow actual emergency response protocols.

3. Celebrity Couple at a Secret Wedding — FAKE

An image purporting to show two major celebrities at a secret wedding ceremony was shared extensively on entertainment gossip platforms. The image showed the alleged couple in formal wedding attire in a scenic outdoor setting. Both celebrities' representatives confirmed no such event occurred, and the image showed typical AI artifacts in the hand and jewelry details.

How to spot it: The wedding rings show impossible geometry, the flower arrangements contain species that do not bloom simultaneously, and the background landscape has telltale AI rendering artifacts in the tree foliage.

4. A New Species of Deep-Sea Creature — FAKE

An image claiming to show a newly discovered deep-sea creature with bioluminescent features generated significant attention on science-focused social media. The creature was described as being discovered at record depths and possessed features that conveniently combined the most visually striking characteristics of several known species. No scientific publication or marine research institution has reported any such discovery.

How to spot it: The creature's anatomy combines features from incompatible species. Its bioluminescence pattern is too uniform and symmetric, unlike the variable patterns found in real bioluminescent organisms. No specimen number, research vessel, or scientist name was associated with the claim.

5. A Famous Landmark During a Natural Disaster — FAKE

An image showing a well-known world landmark being struck by an enormous lightning bolt during a dramatic storm was shared as an incredible photograph. While storms do occur at this landmark and real dramatic photos exist, this particular image was AI-generated. The lightning bolt's branching pattern was physically impossible, and the cloud formations defied atmospheric physics.

How to spot it: Lightning in real photographs creates specific patterns based on electrical discharge physics. This bolt was too artistically perfect, with symmetric branching that does not occur in nature. The cloud formations also showed the smooth, rounded quality common in AI-generated atmospheric effects.

6. A Politician in an Embarrassing Situation — FAKE

An image appeared to show a well-known political figure in a compromising and embarrassing public situation. The image was shared with mocking captions and quickly gained traction in political discussion groups. The image was AI-generated, with the political figure's face showing subtle blending artifacts where it was synthesized onto a different body. The original context was entirely fabricated.

How to spot it: Check the neck-face boundary for color and texture discontinuities. In this image, the skin tone shifted noticeably at the jawline, and the lighting angle on the face did not match the lighting on the body and background. As we noted in our Merz-Epstein investigation, political deepfakes are increasingly common.

7. An Incredible Animal Behavior Moment — MOSTLY FAKE

A video showing an animal performing a seemingly impossible feat of intelligence or agility was shared as genuine wildlife footage. While the species shown does exhibit remarkable behaviors in the wild, the specific actions depicted in this video exceed documented capabilities for the species. The video appears to be AI-generated using a model trained on real wildlife footage, producing convincing but fabricated animal behavior.

How to spot it: The animal's movements are too smooth and lack the micro-adjustments real animals make constantly. The background environment, while realistic, shows subtle temporal inconsistencies when examined frame by frame. No wildlife photographer or research organization has claimed the footage.

Our Verdict

FAKE (mostly). Six out of seven images in this week's roundup were confirmed AI-generated or significantly manipulated. One was rated as mostly fake, being AI-generated content inspired by real animal capabilities. This ratio, while concerning, is consistent with what we observe week after week: the majority of viral images that seem too dramatic, too perfect, or too conveniently timed are synthetic content.

The common thread across all seven images is that they were designed to evoke strong emotional reactions — wonder, outrage, amusement, or concern. This emotional engineering is a deliberate strategy that exploits social media algorithms that prioritize engaging content.

How to Spot This Type of Fake

For quick verification of viral images, use this checklist:

• Emotional trigger test: If an image makes you feel a strong immediate emotion (shock, outrage, amazement), pause before sharing. Strong emotional reactions are exactly what viral fake content is designed to produce.
• Too perfect test: Real moments rarely look perfect. If a photograph seems too perfectly composed, with ideal lighting, positioning, and timing, it may be AI-generated rather than a lucky capture.
• Source check: Can you trace the image back to a credible original source? If it only appears on social media with no clear original photographer or news source, be skeptical.
• Quick detection scan: Submit the image to a free AI detection tool like Hive or AI or Not for a quick initial assessment. While not definitive, this provides useful initial guidance.
• Cross-reference: If the image depicts a specific event or discovery, search for independent reporting or official confirmation. Real events generate multiple independent sources of information.

Follow our weekly roundup and our detailed investigations like 5 AI Fakes That Fooled Thousands to stay current on the latest trends in visual misinformation.