An image is being widely shared on social media (here, here, and here), claiming to be linked to a recent looting incident that came to light after the opening of ‘Dream Bazaar Mall’ in Karachi, Pakistan. The viral photo shows a building named ‘Dream Bazaar Mall’ and a crowd with a lot of garbage around it. Many users are sharing this viral picture, believing it to be real. Let’s verify the authenticity of the post through this article.
Claim: The image showing the exterior of Dream Bazaar mall looted in Karachi, Pakistan.
Fact: The image being circulated is AI-generated and is not from the Karchi incident. On 30 August 2024, Dream Bazaar Mall in Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi, attracted a large crowd with significant opening day discounts. When the mall staff closed the shop doors due to the crowd size, frustration ensued, leading to the forceful breaking of doors by some individuals. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
During our investigation, we identified several flaws in the photo. The text ‘Dream Bazaar’ appeared distorted on the building, and the glass windows looked unusual. Additionally, the architectural design of the building on the left-hand side seemed odd, as it partially covered the billboard, which is uncommon. The crowd in the image also appeared blurry, with distorted hands and feet, raising further doubts about the image’s authenticity.
We then used Hive AI to analyze the image, which confirmed that it was 99.9% AI-generated.
To further verify, we used another tool, Hugging Face, which also indicated that the image was created with the help of artificial intelligence. According to this tool, 65% of the image’s content was generated using AI.
Further, a Google keyword search led us to reports (here and here) about Karachi’s ‘Dream Bazaar Mall.’ According to these reports, on 30 August 2024, the mall in the Gulistan-e-Johar area of Karachi offered big discounts on its opening day to attract customers. As a result, a large crowd gathered outside. In response, the mall staff closed the shop doors, which angered the crowd, leading them to forcefully break the doors. The mall employees struggled to control the situation.
The location outside’ Dream Bazaar Mall’ was shown in a video uploaded on Pakistan’s Ajrak TV YouTube channel on 31 August 2024. The location appeared quite different from the scene in the viral picture, confirming that the viral image is not from Karachi.
To sum up, the viral image is not from Karachi. It is an AI-generated picture that is misleadingly shared in connection with the recent looting incident at Dream Bazaar Mall in Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi.
