🔗 Share this article

Synthetic images purporting to portray Venezuela's president in custody following his capture by the US have garnered tens of millions of views online.

How Fake Pictures of the President Appeared Soon After

The first inauthentic synthetic picture apparently displaying him taken off a plane circulated shortly after. This image was absent from any verified government accounts; it was instead published on the platform X by an profile purporting to be an “enthusiast of AI-generated art”.

We’ve checked Google’s SynthID, which found the picture was produced or modified with Google AI.

Additional AI-generated images started circulating in the subsequent hours, purporting to present additional perspectives of Maduro detained. Visible logos on these images reveal they originated from an Instagram profile named ultravfx.

AI analysis says the further pictures were also produced using generative models.

Authentic Image Released but Fabrications Persisted

Donald Trump released the first real photo of Maduro in handcuffs aboard the US Navy ship on Saturday morning. Yet following this confirmation was made public, AI-generated pictures continued to spread but were updated to incorporate the grey tracksuit seen on Maduro.

Reverse image searches reveal the new fake images were originally uploaded on TikTok by a graphic design profile. Again, SynthID found these further images were generated or edited generative artificial intelligence.

Key Points:

• Deepfakes circulated quickly following the announcement of the president's apprehension.
• The initial fabricated picture appeared very quickly on platform X.
• Tools like AI-watermark detectors were used to confirm the images as AI-generated.
• Fake images continued to circulate and be updated despite the release of real images.
• The source of several fakes was traced to social media accounts focused on graphic design.