Fact Check: Woman protester in unbuttoned denim is…
An image of a woman at a protest in Jantar Mantar went viral, but fact-checkers confirmed it was an AI-generated fabrication by a content creator
- Incident date
- Jul 2026
- Target
- unidentified woman
On July 25, 2026, an image depicting a woman in unbuttoned denim at a protest site in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, circulated widely on social media with inflammatory captions. India Today investigators determined the image was not a photograph of an actual event, but an AI-generated creation.
What happened
The image gained traction alongside claims questioning the nature of the protest, with users sharing it to disparage the demonstrators. Upon analysis, investigators identified a common AI artifact: a blue road signboard in the background featuring distorted, unreadable text. Further technical verification using OpenAI’s Verify tool indicated the image contained signals consistent with content generated by OpenAI systems.
Investigators traced the origin of the image to an Instagram account with the handle "Bellyjellies2.0," managed by content creator Vishal Soni. Soni’s account features numerous hyper-realistic AI-generated images of women, often marked with a consistent watermark. Soni confirmed that he created the image and explicitly stated it had no connection to the ongoing protests or any political agenda. He eventually removed the post following the public outrage it triggered. This incident highlights how AI-generated imagery can be weaponized to manufacture controversy and spread misinformation by falsely inserting fabricated subjects into real-world political contexts.