Images of former President Donald Trump being held onto by police officers and one of him running away were posted to Instagram on March 21. The post featured three pictures showing the officers’ grip on the president and a snapshot of Trump trying to escape.
Today is exciting; with Donald Trump getting arrested, what a time to be alive! The evidence of such an event came from three images shared on Twitter.
The post on Instagram generated an impressive 70,000 likes within only one day. Similarly, the Twitter thread was favored with over 40,000 likes. Other posts of the same caliber have been shared extensively across Instagram.
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At the time of the post, no law enforcement officers had arrested Trump; this was confirmed by two image creators who stated that their images were made with a computer. Furthermore, a forensic expert also invalidated the authenticity of the other two images.
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On March 21, as reported by USA TODAY, Donald Trump stated via Truth Social that he anticipated being apprehended in correlation with an exploration by the Manhattan district attorney into a $130,000 payout to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Using the keywords “no credible reports,” “Trump,” and “arrested on March 21,” it is clear that no reliable sources report that Trump was arrested on March 21. Additionally, the Twitter account which posted images of Trump being arrested stated in its profile that it was a satirical, parodic account.
The fourth image of Trump on the ground and the one in the post depicting him almost falling were made by Eliot Higgins, a recognized open-source investigative specialist and founder of Bellingcat. He is based in The Netherlands, and it is a leading investigative group.
While creating pictures of Trump getting arrested, Higgins tweeted on March 20, “Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump’s arrest.”
Midjourney v5, an artificial intelligence generator, was utilized by Higgins to generate the images. USA TODAY reported that Higgins used this tool to create them.
Higgins says:
“Generally speaking you should look out for people with extra limbs or fingers,”
“Text is nearly always nonsensical, and logos and badges are often a mess. If you look at uniforms of the police you’ll notice they are all slightly different. You might also see clothes blend into each other, or have strange textures.”
The post contains three images, but it is not certain where the other two came from. Despite this, several characteristics of the pictures indicate they were generated on a computer, according to Higgins. This refutes the false claim that this video shows a support rally for Trump after arrest rumors.
Higgins went on to say:
“Some of the fingers and hands look weird, Trump’s hands are different sizes and the uniforms have small discrepancies with each other.”
James O’Brien, a forensic analysis expert at the University of California, Berkeley, concurred with experts’ opinion that the images are similar to being developed with AI or modified.
Using VERIFY, the Associated Press, USA TODAY, and Reuters, it was found to be untrue that the Instagram page was exclusively for humor. The owner revealed that the page focuses only on humorous material and memes.
The circulation of computer-generated images purporting to show real events is misleading and undermines public trust in the media and institutions of law enforcement. By remaining vigilant and fact-checking the information we consume, we can help combat the spread of false information and promote a more informed and accurate public discourse.
Source: USA TODAY
