Image depicting Myanmar activists doing the 'Viking row'…

An image circulating on social media claiming to depict Burmese demonstrators performing a "Viking row" in New York's Times Square to support deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been identified as fabricated. The content, which appeared in multiple Facebook posts in late June 2026, attempted to associate the activists with a popular Norwegian football tradition seen during the 2026 World Cup.

What happened

The image was traced back to a video shared on the Facebook account of former Burmese politician Daw Cho Cho on June 25, 2026. The footage contained an "AIReel" watermark, indicating it was produced using an AI generation tool. Analysis of the video revealed several indicators of synthetic creation, including blurry faces and a misspelling of "Amay Suu" (Mother Suu) as "Ama Yay Suu." Furthermore, an evaluation using the AI-detection tool Hive Moderation determined the video was 90.8% likely to be AI-generated. While the posts claimed the demonstration occurred in Times Square to demand "Proof of Life" for the 81-year-old leader, there were no reports of such an event taking place at that location. The fabrication emerged shortly after Suu Kyi's son, Kim Aris, organized legitimate campaigns to demand information regarding her status following years of military rule in Myanmar.