Fact Check: Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo visit Karbala? False, images are AI-generated
Images of footballer Lionel Messi and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo dressed in black attire have gone viral as photos from their recent trip to Karbala, Iraq.
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 9 Jan 2025 4:49 PM IST
Claim: The images show footballer Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo visiting Karbala in Iraq.
Fact: The claim is false. The images were AI-generated.
Hyderabad: Images claiming to show football legend Lionel Messi and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo visiting the holy city of Karbala in Iraq have gone viral. The visuals depict the couple wearing black Muslim attire near a monument resembling the Al-Abbas Shrine in Karbala.
The pictures were posted on Instagram by a user with the caption, ā@leomessi and @antonelagallery in the holy city of Karbala, sharing a moment of respect and cultural connection. #Karbala #Iraq #Messi #Respect #Culture.ā
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The images were generated using AI (Artificial Intelligence).
We searched for credible news outlets that reported Messiās purported trip to Karbala but couldnāt find any, suggesting the photos may have been fabricated.
A closer look revealed a watermark on the visuals that read āGROK.ā
Grok Image Generator is a generative AI tool designed to create art and visuals from text inputs. Its official website states that it is specifically built for artistic creations. This strongly hinted that the visuals were not photographs but digital fabrications.
Further analysis using AI-detection platforms, such as Sight Engine and Hive Moderation, confirmed that the images were AI-generated.
(Source: Sight Engine)
(Source: Hive Moderation)
Both platforms specialise in identifying AI-generated content and confirmed that the images were created using Artificial Intelligence. The results indicated that the pictures are 99 per cent and 99.8 per cent likely to be AI-generated by each software, respectively.
Therefore, the viral claim that Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo visited Karbala is false. The images circulating on social media are AI-generated and do not represent any real event.
