FACT CHECK: Marcos not arrested, photo is AI-generated -…

On July 10, 2024, a misleading Facebook reel featuring an AI-generated image of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. being arrested by police circulated widely online. The post, which garnered over 450,000 views, used provocative narration to suggest the President had been apprehended, prompting some social media users to believe the false claim despite his constitutional immunity from suit.

What happened

The incident involved the distribution of a digitally synthesized image designed to mimic a real-life arrest scene. The video narrator questioned the authenticity of the images while simultaneously encouraging viewers to comment on the supposed event, effectively amplifying the reach of the disinformation. Fact-checkers utilized multiple AI-detection tools, including Sight Engine, Truth Scan, ZeroGPT, and DeepAI, which returned probability scores between 95% and 99% that the image was artificially generated.

Evidence confirming the falsity of the claim included the President's ongoing public schedule, which featured appearances at the Navotas Fish Port Complex and the Benoni Port in the days following the post. Furthermore, legal experts noted that as a sitting president, Marcos enjoys immunity from suit and cannot be prosecuted for criminal offenses while in office. This incident is part of a broader pattern of disinformation targeting the administration, with previous false claims regarding the President fleeing to Canada or facing arrest in the United States having been similarly debunked.