An image going viral on social media (here, here, and here) shows Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on a billboard in Times Square, New York. The caption says, “Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Thalapathy M.K. Stalin welcomed in Times Square.” This post is being shared regarding M.K. Stalin’s ongoing visit to the United States. Let’s verify the claim through this article.
Claim: A photo of Stalin was featured in Times Square, New York.
Fact: A Times Square photo on The Clio and an article from the Nantucket Preservation Trust titled “Friday Find: History of One Times Square,” published on 02 January 2015, show similarities to the viral image. On comparison, it is clear that the image of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had been edited to replace these advertisements. However, it is unclear in which year the original photograph was taken, as it has been shared on social media since 2011 and featured on websites for several years. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of the viral post led us to a Times Square photo featured on The Clio, which showed a few similarities with the viral image.
Further investigation uncovered an article from the Nantucket Preservation Trust titled “Friday Find: History of One Times Square,” published on 02 January 2015 Which confirmed that the image is not recent.
When we compared the two images, it became clear that the image of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had been edited, with his photo placed in place of advertisements. The comparison of both images is shown below.
However, it is unclear in which year this photograph was taken, as it has been shared on social media since 2011 and featured on websites for several years.
Notably, Chief Minister Stalin is on a two-week official visit to the U.S., where he will visit San Francisco and Chicago to seek investments for Tamil Nadu.
To sum up, an edited image of Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin is being shared, that shows him featured in Times Square, New York, in the context of his ongoing visit to the US.
