An AI-generated photo purporting to show modified tractors on a highway is being shared on social media falsely linking it to the ongoing 'Delhi Chalo' farmers' protest claiming that these tractors would be used to breach police barricades to enter Delhi.
The viral photo is along with a screenshot of an article published by news agency ANI, and the headline in the screenshot reads, "Tractors modified to remove barricades, resist tear gas shells will lead Delhi Chalo march by Punjab farmers, intelligence agencies alert police" published on February 11, 2024. ANI had reported quoting an anonymous official claiming that intelligence agencies have alerted the police that tractors would be fitted with hydraulic tools to remove police barricades by protesting farmers to break the barricades set-up by police on the borders of Delhi.
Thousands of protesting farmers from neighbouring states, including Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, are marching towards the capital with their tractors demanding assured prices for their crops and the implementation and legal guarantee of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) by the central government. In an attempt to deter the farmers from reaching Delhi, police authorities in Haryana have reinforced the state's borders with Punjab in Ambala, Jind, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, and Sirsa, employing concrete blocks, nails, and barricades. Chaos was reported at Punjab-Haryana (Shambhu) border on February 13 ,2024, after protesting farmers began to break barricades, following which the Haryana police fired rounds of tear gas to disperse the mob.
The screenshot with the photo was posted on X by the verified handle Megh Updates '@MeghUpdates' on February 11, 2024, with the caption, "Intelligene Alert: More than 25,000 farmers and around 5,000 tractors will start their movement from various districts of Punjab and Haryana on Monday to reach Delhi on Tuesday. “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,”"
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The same photo is viral on X with the misleading claim.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral photo of a group of modified tractors running on a highway has been created using generative-AI and is not real. There are several visible visual discrepancies which clearly indicate it is an AI-generated photo.
On checking with the headline of the article, we found that the screenshot is from the article published by Right-wing outlet OpIndia
that had republished news agency ANI's article. In the photo caption it is mentioned that the photo is AI-generated.
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An archived version of the story showed that caption previously read, "AI-generated representative image". This part is missing in the viral screenshot that is being shared with the false claim.
We also uploaded the image on AI-image detection tool Hive Detector, which estimated that the photo was highly likely to be generated using AI.
BOOM has previously debunked misinformation around the recent Farmers' protest, with an unrelated video of a modified tractor that had gone viral with a false claim that it shows a tractor that farmers en route to Delhi would use to breach police barricades.
