What was claimed
A picture shows the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire after being hit by Iranian missiles.
Our verdict
False. This image isn’t real and was made using Google AI tools.
AI image of the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire shared online
An image supposedly showing the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire having been struck by Iranian missiles has been shared hundreds of times online.
But this image isn’t real, and was made using Google AI tools.
The image has been shared across Facebook and X. One major clue that it was made with artificial intelligence (AI) is the diamond shape in the bottom right corner, which is the watermark for Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot.
A reverse image search also says it was “made with Google AI”, meaning it has a SynthID watermark indicating it was generated or edited with one of Google’s AI tools.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed they attacked the American aircraft carrier after US and Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But on 1 March, US Central Command said the Lincoln was not hit and continues to launch aircraft.
Misinformation can spread during conflict and crisis events, so it’s important to consider whether what you see on social media comes from a verifiable and trustworthy source before sharing. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as altered because this image isn’t real and was made using artificial intelligence.