Farmers, predominantly from Punjab, along with counterparts from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, led by over 200 unions, commenced their Delhi Chalo march on February 13, 2024. The Delhi Police have reportedly taken extensive measures to prevent the march from entering Delhi at the Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur borders. Against this backdrop, an image of tractors has surfaced on Internet claiming that tractors involved in the farmers’ protests have been modified to dismantle barricades and withstand tear gas shells.
A Facebook user shared the photo with a caption: “If farmers can afford such tractors and its modifications, do you think they need protest?”
You can check the post here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above picture, and found it to be AI-generated.
Running a Reverse Image Search of the image, the NM team traced multiple news reports, seen here, here and here, stating that modified tractors would be used to remove the barricades and boulders placed by the police on highways, given the farmers Delhi Chalo march scheduled on February 13.
According to a Central intelligence agency official, as quoted by ANI, “Tractors have been fitted with hydraulic tools to remove barricades, fire-resistant hard-shell trailers being readied to fight tear gas shells. They have also performed drills with these modified vehicles.” However, none of the media outlets, including ANI, has tagged the viral image in their reports, suggesting that it was digitally altered.
Putting the image through Hive Moderation — a tool that detects AI-generated content — we found the picture in question is 99.2% AI-generated.
Thus, with the above findings, it is established that the picture in question is AI-generated and falsely linked to Farmer’s Protest 2.0.
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