#FactCheck -AI-Generated Image Falsely Shows Amit Shah and Jay Shah Travelling in Charter Plane Amid Austerity Appeal
Executive Summary
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently appealed to citizens to reduce the consumption of gold and edible oil for a year. He also urged people to conserve petrol, diesel, and cooking gas amid the crisis arising from the ongoing tensions in West Asia involving the United States, Israel, and Iran. Amid this backdrop, a purported image of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah, who currently serves as Chairman of the International Cricket Council, has gone viral on social media. The image shows them seated inside a chartered aircraft along with two other individuals. Several social media users shared the picture as genuine while targeting the central government and Amit Shah.
However, CyberPeace Research Wing reseach found that the viral image is fake and was generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Claim
An Instagram user named “Om Prakash Shukla” shared the viral image on May 24, 2026, with the caption:“People are sacrificing their desires for the nation, while they are enjoying luxury.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYuFqnmCh7T
Fact Check
To verify the authenticity of the viral image, we conducted a Google Lens search. However, the image was not found on any credible news platform, which raised suspicion about its authenticity. We also performed keyword-based searches related to the image using Google Search, but found no authentic reports or media coverage associated with the picture.
Further reseach involved analysing the image using AI detection tools. We first examined the picture using the “Sight Engine” AI detection tool, which indicated a 99 percent probability that the image was AI-generated.
We also tested the image using another AI detection platform called “TruthScan.” This tool likewise suggested, with around 97 percent probability, that the image had been created using artificial intelligence
Conclusion
The reseach found that the viral image featuring Union Home Minister Amit Shah and ICC Chairman Jay Shah inside a chartered aircraft is AI-generated. The image was digitally created using AI tools, and the viral claim associated with it is false.
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Introduction
Social media has become integral to our lives and livelihood in today’s digital world. Influencers are now strong people who shape trends, views, and consumer behaviour. Influencers have become targets for bad actors aiming to abuse their fame due to their significant internet presence. Unfortunately, account hacking has grown frequently, with significant ramifications for influencers and their followers. Furthermore, the emergence of social media platforms in recent years has opened the way for influencer culture. Influencers exert power over their followers’ ideas, lifestyle choices, and purchase decisions. Influencers and brands frequently collaborate to exploit their reach, resulting in a mutually beneficial environment. As a result, the value of influencer accounts has risen dramatically, attracting the attention of hackers trying to abuse their potential for financial gain or personal advantage.
Instances of recent attacks
Places of worship
The hackers have targeted renowned temples for fulfilling their malicious activities the recent attack happened on The Khautji Shyam Temple, a famous religious institution with enormous cultural and spiritual value for its adherents. It serves as a place of worship, community events, and numerous religious activities. However, since technology has invaded all sectors of life, the temple’s online presence has developed, giving worshippers access to information, virtual darshans (holy viewings), and interactive forums. Unfortunately, this digital growth has also rendered the shrine vulnerable to cyber threats. The hackers hacked the Facebook page twice in the month, demanded donations and hacked the cheques the devotes gave to the trust. The second event happened by posting objectional images on the page and hurting the sentiments of the devotees. The Committee of the temple has filed an FIR under various charges and is also seeking help from the cyber cell.
Social media Influencers
Influencers enjoy a vast online following worldwide, but their presence is limited to the digital space. Hence every video, photo is of importance to them. An incident took place with leading news anchor and reporter Barkha Dutt, where in her youtube channel was hacked into, and all the posts made from the channel were deleted. The hackers also replaced the channel’s logo with Tesla and were streaming a live video on the channel featuring Elon Musk. A similar incident was reported by influencer Tanmay Bhatt, who also lost all the content e had posted on his channel. The hackers use the following methods to con social media influencers:
- Social engineering
- Phishing
- Brute Force Attacks
Such attacks on influencers can cause harm to their reputation, can also cause financial loss, and even lose the trust of the viewers or the followers who follow them, thus further impacting the collaborations.
Safeguards
Social media influencers need to be very careful about their cyber security as their prominent presence is in the online world. The influencers from different platforms should practice the following safeguards to protect themselves and their content better online
Secure your accounts
Protecting your accounts with passphrases or strong passwords is the first step. The best strategy for doing this is to create a passphrase, a phrase only you know. We advise choosing a passphrase with at least four words and 15 characters.
To further secure your accounts, you must enable multi-factor authentication in the second step.
To access your account, a hacker must guess your password and provide a second authentication factor (such as a face scan or fingerprint) that matches yours.
Be careful about who has access
Many social media influencers collaborate with a team to help generate and post content while building their personal brands.
This entails using team members who can write and produce material that influencers can share themselves, according to some of them. In these situations, the influencer is the only person who still has access to the account.
There are more potential weak spots when more people have access. Additionally, it increases the number of ways a password or account access could fall into the hands of a cybercriminal. Only some staff members will be as cautious about password security as you may be.
Stay up-to-date on the threats
What’s the most significant way to combat threats to computer security? Information.
Cybercriminals constantly adapt their methods. It’s crucial to stay informed about these threats and how they can be utilised against you.
But it’s not just threats. Social media platforms and other service providers are likewise changing their offerings to avoid these challenges.
Educate yourself to protect yourself. You can keep one step ahead of the hazards that cybercriminals offer by continuously educating yourself.
Preach cybersecurity
As influencers, cyber security should be preached, no matter your agenda.
This will also enable users to inculcate best practices for digital hygiene.
This will also boost the reporting numbers and increase population awareness, thus eradicating such bad actors from our cyberspace.
Acknowledge the risks
Keeping a blind eye will always hurt the safety aspects, as ignorance always causes issues.
Risks should be kept in mind while creating the digital routine and netiquette
Always inform your users of risk existing and potential risks
Monitor threats
After the acknowledgement, it is essential to monitor threats.
Active lookout for threats will allow you to understand the modus Operandi and the vulnerabilities to avoid criminals
Threats monitoring is also a basic netizens’ responsibility to ensure that the threats are reported as they emerge.
Interpret the data
All cyber nodal agencies release data and trends of cybercrimes, understand the trends and protect your vulnerabilities.
Data interpretation can lead to an early flagging of threats and issues, thus protecting the cyber ecosystem by and large.
Create risk profiles
All influencers should create risk profiles and backup profiles.
This will also help protect one’s data as it can be stored on different profiles.
Risk profiles and having a private profile are essential to safeguard the basic cyber interests of an influencer.
Conclusion
As we go deeper into the digital age, we see more technologies emerging, but along with them, we see a new generation of cyber threats and challenges. The physical, as well as the cyberspace, is now inter twinned and interdependent. Practising basic cyber security practices, hygiene, netiquette, and monitoring best practices will go a long way in protecting the online interests of the Influencers and will impact their followers to engage in best practices thus safeguarding the cyber ecosystem at large.
Executive Summary
A photograph showing Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan standing with a woman is being widely circulated on social media. Users are falsely claiming that the woman in the image is Manisha Mandhare, a teacher allegedly arrested in the NEET-UG paper leak case. CyberPeace Research Wing research confirms that the woman in the viral photograph is Dr. Nivedita Ekbote and not Manisha Mandhare. Social media users are falsely misidentifying her and linking her to the NEET paper leak case without evidence.
Claim
Several social media users, including Facebook and Instagram pages, have shared the image claiming that the woman seen with the Union Minister is Manisha Mandhare, who was arrested in connection with the NEET paper leak case.
- https://www.facebook.com/Sri.Media.Kannada/posts/pfbid0pCuJrhcz3mcf8MzYci4oWXaTKvaJYNjCtGo34Z6R9ztshWqs3QUupyHNu2K4Rodpl?rdid=WtnRhDM22ftHT9oe
- https://archive.is/uwmsj
Fact Check
A reverse image search of the viral photograph reveals that the woman is actually Dr. Nivedita Ekbote, Principal of Modern College and Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Maharashtra. Nivedita Ekbote originally shared this photograph on December 18, 2024, across her official social media accounts on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. According to the caption, the image was taken during the Pune Book Festival, where she met the Union Education Minister along with her parents.
In a public clarification, she stated that her photograph was being misused online. She added that the image was taken at a public event with several dignitaries and strongly condemned the circulation of false and misleading claims using it.
- https://x.com/EkboteNivedita/status/2056265520765399049?s=20
Further verification from credible news reports confirms that Manisha Mandhare, who is linked to the NEET paper leak case, is a senior botany teacher from Pune. She was reportedly appointed as a subject expert by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for NEET-related processes. Her identity is completely different from the woman seen in the viral image.
Conclusion
The viral claim is completely false and misleading. The woman seen with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is Dr. Nivedita Ekbote, and she has no connection to the NEET-UG paper leak case.
Executive Summary
A video showing a massive explosion and fire at what appears to be a gas facility is being widely circulated on social media. In the footage, huge flames and thick smoke can be seen rising from the site, while workers and security personnel are seen running around in panic.
The video is being shared with the claim that it shows an attack on the South Pars natural gas field in Iran’s Bushehr province.
CyberPeace Research Wing’s research found the viral claim to be false. The research revealed that the video is not from a real incident but was created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is being circulated with a false narrative.
Claim
The viral video is being shared on social media with the claim that it shows an attack on energy facilities at the South Pars natural gas field in Iran’s Bushehr province.
Post Link:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DanX_iJIfTu/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Fact Check
To verify the claim, we extracted multiple keyframes from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens. During the search, we did not find any credible news report or reliable source confirming that the video was related to any attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field.
In the next step of the research, we analysed the video using the AI detection tool Deepfake-O-Meter. The tool’s results indicated that the viral video was approximately 100% likely to be AI-generated.
For further verification, we also checked the video using another AI detection tool, DetectVideo AI. The analysis showed that the video had a 64% probability of being AI-generated.
Conclusion
Our research found that the viral claim is false. The video does not show any real attack on Iran’s South Pars natural gas field. The footage was found to be AI-generated and is being shared on social media with a misleading claim.
