Through a photo published on social media Facebook and TikTok It is alleged that students set fire to the Albanian Prime Minister's Office building during protests in Tirana.
What's wrong with this content?
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it was determined that the photo was generated with artificial intelligence (AI) and does not represent an authentic view of the protest.
The photo is accompanied by the claim that students set fire to the Prime Minister's Office, creating the impression that the image depicts a real event that occurred during the protests.
FACTS
Photo analysis through the platform Hive Moderation, which is used to identify content generated with artificial intelligence, rated it 98.4% as AI-generated. (see photo below).
Since October 13, student protests have been taking place in Tirana, which are being accompanied by clashes with the Police and incidents near state institutions.
Media reports on October 14 reported that protesters set fire to trees near the Prime Minister's Office and threw Molotov cocktails at it. Police reportedly used tear gas to disperse the crowd (see here and here).
These reports indicate that there were incidents of fire and fireworks being thrown near institutions during the protests. However, they do not corroborate the photo circulating on Facebook and TikTok.
A little context
Since October 13, students and citizens have been protesting in Tirana and several other cities in Albania, demanding improved conditions at universities, reduced tuition fees, and the resignation of Edi Rama's government. The protests have been accompanied by clashes between protesters and police.
It merged with the “Flamingo Revolution” movement, which began months ago in opposition to tourism projects in Zvërnec and Sazan, due to environmental concerns and suspicions of corruption. The demands of this movement later expanded to include calls for the government to resign.
Hibrid.info has previously covered cases of images generated with artificial intelligence (AI), which were distributed with the false claim that they present authentic images from these protests (see here and here).
Analyze
The photo published on TikTok and Facebook showing the Prime Minister's Office engulfed in flames was generated with artificial intelligence (AI) and should not be presented as photographic evidence of real events.
Therefore, the claim presented through this photograph is untrue in relation to the authenticity of the image.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Fraud".
rationale
The “Deception” rating is given to informational content that is manipulated in terms of visual (deepfake, cheapfake), audio, or textual content to deceive the audience. This form of deception is usually used to produce false and manipulated content.