An image of a train covered in flowers is viral online with the claim that it is from Kerala and the train was decorated on the occasion of Onam. BOOM found that the claim is fake and the image has been made using generative-AI.
The Indian festival of Onam, significant to the state of Kerala and the other Malayalam-speaking population in the country is being celebrated on August 29.
The claim about the train being decorated is viral in this context. A caption on X (formerly Twitter) reads, "This is the picture of a Railway Station in #Kerala specially decorated for #Onam .. Beautiful .."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the image has been created using generative-AI and is not real.
We ran the image through Hive Moderation, an AI image detection tool which gives images scores based on how likely they are to have been made using AI. The tool gave this viral image a score of 100%.
We also noticed an irregularity in the image that suggested it could be AI-generated: a man standing in a random hollow space.
A reverse image search of this photo led us to a post by Facebook user Aneesh Chakkottil who had shared the same image on July 29, 2023. The photo was captioned, "वंदे भारत Kasaragod to Trivandrum ONAM SPECIAL"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
We also looked at the comments under Chakkottil's post and found that he had mentioned that the image was made using generative-AI.