AI-generated image of a plane landing at Beirut International Airport surrounded by fire and smoke is falsely shared as real
A post going viral on social media (here, here, and here) claims to show a Middle East Airlines (MEA) plane landing at Beirut International Airport while Israeli forces rain fire on the airport. This post is shared amid the ongoing tensions between Israel and Lebanon. Let’s verify the claim through this article.
Claim: A picture shows a Middle East Airlines (MEA) plane landing at Beirut International Airport, surrounded by massive fire and smoke.
Fact: The viral image is AI-generated and does not show a real incident from Beirut International Airport. It was uploaded on the Instagram account “eyesoflebanon” on 21 October 2024, with a caption confirming it as an AI-generated image. We also analyzed the image using different AI Detector tools, which confirmed that the image is AI-generated. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of the viral image’s screenshot led us to a similar image uploaded on an Instagram handle named “eyesoflebanon” on 21 October 2024. The caption of the post revealed that this is an AI-generated image.
Along with this image, the user shared another AI-generated image allegedly depicting the same incident.
We then used Hive AI detector to analyze the image, which confirmed that it was 96.4% AI-generated.
To further verify, we used another tool, True Media AI detector, which also indicated that the image was created with the help of artificial intelligence.
To sum up, an AI-generated image of a plane landing at Beirut International Airport surrounded by fire and smoke is falsely shared as real.