Multiple images featuring football legend Lionel Messi and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo, allegedly in Karbala, Iraq, are circulating widely on social media. Many users claim them to be real.
A Facebook user posted the image with a caption: “@leomessi and @antonelagallery in the holy city of Karbala 🇮🇶, sharing a moment of respect and cultural connection ✨#Karbala #Iraq #Messi #Respect #Culture”
Check the above post here (Archive)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim, and found it to be false.
Searching with relevant keywords, NewsMobile found no credible reports or news articles confirming that Messi and Roccuzzo visited Karbala. We reviewed the official social media profiles of Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo but could not find any posts, stories, or updates suggesting they had visited Karbala in Iraq.
Upon closer inspection of the viral images, we noticed a watermark on the visuals with ‘GROK’. GROK Image Generator is a generative AI tool designed to create art and visuals from text-based prompts. This suggests the images may have been created using AI.
To verify further, we ran the images through Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool. The results confirm that the images are AI-generated.