Several images of the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, are making rounds on social media platforms. Users claim the pictures show Trump’s arrest yesterday in Washington DC. The posts have attracted other users’ attention and got thousands of interactions.
“Donald Trump has been arrested downtown Washington DC,” users wrote.
Misbar’s team used Image Reverse Search tools to check the images’ source, but the process yielded no results. We noticed an irregular noise and blurriness in the pictures, which means that the pictures can be AI-generated using AI tools.
We reviewed these photos using an AI image detector created by Hugging Face, a French company that develops tools for building applications using machine learning. The detector found them all to be likey AI-generated.
Eliot Higgins, founder and creative director for Bellingcat, an independent international collective of researchers and investigators, later posted the images and wrote: “Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump's arrest.”
The founder and creator of Bellingcat confirmed that the AI engine Midjourney v5 was used to generate fake images. However, we could not verify if Higgins was the creator of the images.
AI Image Generators
Midjourney is one of the many AI image generators that have emerged recently. The program asks its users to input a worded prompt for an image, and it takes only a few seconds until the program gives multiple outputs.
The Midjourney team has been updating the software since it was first launched. The software is now on its fifth version, BBC Scientific Focus Magazine reported.
Midjourney v5 now offers higher image quality with more diverse outputs and wider stylistic range. Recently, the software stirred controversies, with the rise of AI-generated images, especially after a popular Instagram “photographer” known as Joe Avery admitted his “masterpieces” are all AI-generated.
With the rise of such software use, many artists faced similar situations, especially those using AI within their arts.
Anonymous Operations’s Twitter account shared another image claiming it shows Trump’s plane heading down the runway. But the picture was also fake.
Another user shared a photoshopped image, purportedly showing Trump driving down a highway in a golf cart with police after him.
Satirical content and memes mocking Donald Trump also flooded social media, anticipating his arrest. Artist and illustrator Michael Fleming shared images of an AI-generated Donald Trump being arrested in clown make-up and suit.
Donald Trump’s Alleged Arrest
On March 18, Donald Trump said he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, March 21, in a case brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, according to his post on his social media platform Truth Social reported by different media outlets.
Donald Trump said, without providing any proof or details about any charges, that “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney's office indicated that he would be arrested.
He wrote, asking his supporters to protest: “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”
According to the New York Times, two hours later, a spokesman said that Trump had not written his post with direct knowledge of the timing of any arrest. “President Trump is rightfully highlighting his innocence and the weaponization of our injustice system,” the spokesperson added.
Following his post, Speaker of the House and Representative of California's 20th District in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, tweeted that he was calling for investigations into whether federal funds were being used to subvert democracy by interfering in elections with “politically motivated prosecutions.”
Reuters contacted the district attorney’s office but did not receive any response to their request.
Reuters mentioned that, earlier this year, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's officestarted presenting evidence to a grand jury investigating a $130,000 payment that Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the waning days of Trump's 2016 campaign.
Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, previously said she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier, while Trump, according to Reuters, denied the allegations. However, Donald Trump was not arrested.
Will Trump Be Back to Popular Social Media Platforms?
Controversies were raised after Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, reinstated Donald Trump’s account following his acquisition of the company two years after Trump was banned from the social media platform for “inciting violence.”
It is worth mentioning that Donald Trump was banned from Twitter after he called on his supporters on Twitter to march toward the U.S. Capitol building while Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Recently, before Trump claimed he might be arrested on Tuesday, Google, owner of YouTube, announced it would allow former President Donald Trump’s account to post new videos, lifting restrictions following the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol.
Donald Trump’s accounts on the three major platforms from which he was suspended are now restored, ahead of his expected campaign for the 2024 elections. And as he was often considered eager for attention, Trump is now subject to criticism. Meanwhile, the question remains, what will be the new political communication strategy of Donald Trump on social media ahead of the upcoming elections?
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