Fact Check: World’s largest Cristiano Ronaldo statue unveiled? No, image is AI-generated

Hyderabad: An image of a bronze statue of footballer Christiano Ronaldo is going viral. The image is circulating with the claim that the world’s largest statue of the footballer was unveiled.

A Facebook user shared the image with the following caption, “World’s Largest Cristiano Ronaldo Statue Unveiled.” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The viral image of Christiano Ronaldo’s bronze statue was generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

We performed various keyword searches to find news reports and social media posts related to the unveiling of the footballer Ronaldo’s statue. We found information regarding several statues of Christiano Ronaldo in Goa, CR7 Museum, and Madeira Airport, along with the latest 12-foot-tall statue unveiled at New York City’s Times Square on the occasion of the footballer’s 40th birthday.

However, we did not find any reports on the statue from the viral image. We checked the social media accounts of Christiano Ronaldo but found no posts regarding the statue.

A reverse image search did not yield any matches of the viral image. This hinted that the image may not be real.

Upon inspection, we found visual discrepancies in the viral image, such as the human-like figures at the bottom of the image being distorted and all writings on signs boards being illegible. These are some usual signs of an AI-generated image.

We used tools to check if the viral picture was created by Al. Sight Engine, an AI detection tool, found that the image is 83 per cent likely to be AI-generated.

Another tool, Hive Moderation, confirmed that it is 99.4 per cent likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.

In the past, NewsMeter has debunked various viral claims of ‘statues’ of celebrities being erected. You can read the stories here and here.

Therefore, NewsMeter confirmed that the viral claim is false, as the viral image was generated using AI.