Overview
- A Thai-language social post that circulated on July 1 shared a composite image claiming President Emmanuel Macron knelt while presenting France's highest honours, and the post drew more than 40,000 likes and thousands of shares.
- Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AFP there is no evidence Macron knelt at the ceremony, and official photos show the decorations laid on a table during the state dinner rather than being presented while kneeling.
- AFP ran the image through OpenAI's image verification tool which flagged it as generated, and AFP's comparison with official pictures found visual errors such as the queen's missing long cape.
- The fabricated picture was amplified by major Facebook, X and TikTok posts including a large pro-military, nationalist page, illustrating how AI-made visuals can tap into existing political sentiment and gain quick reach.
- The episode follows other recent AI visual fabrications that AFP has debunked and highlights growing pressure on platforms and governments to verify images quickly to prevent misleading coverage of diplomatic events.