A picture shows Pikachu, Batman, Spiderman and the Joker amidst the ongoing protests in Turkey.
This picture isn’t real, and was made using artificial intelligence—though there is genuine footage of someone dressed as Pikachu at the protests.
A picture of the Pokemon character Pikachu running away from the police at the recent protests in Turkey alongside Batman, Spiderman and the Joker was actually generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Although there is genuine footage of someone dressed up as Pikachu at the protests circulating on social media, this image being shared isn’t authentic.
The image has been very widely circulated, with one post on X recorded as having over 10 million views. And while some commenting on the image seem to have realised it is AI, many others appear to have assumed it is real, or are genuinely unsure.
We’ve written previously about why we fact check some claims online even if it appears obvious to some that they are false.
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Using Google Lens, Full Fact traced the image back to a 27 March post on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) from a user who describes themselves in their X bio as a “Computer and artificial intelligence engineer”. Their Instagram also includes the disclaimer “All images are created with artificial intelligence and commercial rights are reserved”.
Although the user did not provide a caption or indicate directly that the content was created using AI, they clarified in the reply section on X that the photograph was generated using AI and “includes other characters for comedic effect”.
The user also included a watermark in the bottom left corner, which has been cropped on the other versions shared on social media.
We’ve previously fact checked another example of an AI-generated picture of Pikachu at a protest in Turkey.
There have been ongoing protests in Turkey since the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on 19 March.
Mr Imamoglu is being held in jail on corruption charges, which he denies. He is seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival.
At the time of writing, nearly 2,000 people have been arrested for taking part in the protests.
Before sharing content you see online, especially during breaking news events, it’s important to consider whether what you are seeing is genuine and comes from a trusted source. Our guides to spotting AI-generated or otherwise misleading images online 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 the picture isn’t real and was generated using artificial intelligence.
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