You might have seen one of these pictures yourself. Some have garnered millions of views as soon as they went viral on social media.
One of the most viewed photos shows a fan in the stadium wearing a Germany jersey, waving the German flag and bearing a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler, a fake photo that was debunked by DW’s Fact Check team shortly after Germany’s World Cup match against Curaçao.
Some of these photos immediately strike us as fake; We can easily mistake others for the real us. Either way, they’re having an impact.
“This is a phenomenon in which billions of people around the world watch the same match at the same time, from different countries, different regions, different political situations,” said Henri Ajder, one of the world’s leading experts on deepfakes and manipulative AI.
“This is the perfect environment for people to start spreading deepfakes and AI-generated content,” he said, adding that some people are trying to change the narrative for the rest of the world.
This is exactly what is going on on social media right now. Along with more light-hearted World Cup deepfakes, a number of political messages are also going viral. DW Fact Check examines many of them and shows how you can spot fakes yourself.
Iranian protests with pink backpacks?
Before the clash between Iran and the US ended, Iran began their World Cup campaign against New Zealand, losing with a point in a 2–2 (1–1) draw. But did any player actually mark the result in protest?
Claim: But Image of an Iranian footballer holding a pink backpack Went viral on social media. “Paying tribute to the 168 schoolgirls murdered by Donald Trump,” read one post that has been viewed nearly three million times.
DW Fact Check: Fake
The image does not show any footage of Iran’s World Cup match, and it also does not show any of Iran’s actual World Cup players.
There was no such protest during the match against New Zealand and the player seen in the photo does not match anyone. Iran’s World Cup team.Iran’s actual World Cup jersey also looks different. The stadium doesn’t even match: the field looks completely different in the image World Cup Stadium in Los Angeleswhere the game was played; Even the shape of the stand is different.
There is a real incident behind the fake, however: Iranian fans held a real protest in the stands at the Los Angeles match, some in memory of children allegedly killed by the US at a school in the Iranian city of Minab.
reportingby outlets such as the new York Times and by investigation bellingcathave pointed to possible US military involvement in the attack, which killed more than 150 people. But the viral picture of a player protesting against the incident is fabricated.
Keir Starmer in Croatia jersey?
Would a British Prime Minister really pose in a rival team’s jersey just before England’s opening match? It seems unlikely, yet social media would have you believe exactly that. A viral image circulated on Twitter showed Starmer smiling in a pub with three other people, all of them wearing the jerseys of Croatia – England’s first opponent at the tournament.
Claim: As soon as England won that opener 4-2 (2-2), users shared the photo with captions like “Seen at the London Inn in Dallas before the England vs. Croatia World Cup match” And “Starmer and his guys are ready to play.”
DW Fact Check: Fake
A quick Google search for “Keir Starmer pub football fan”turned on Original photo:Same pub, same people – including former Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner – but different organisations. Three of them are wearing England jerseys, and Starmer is in a plain white T-shirt. The photo is actually two years old, taken around the 2024 European Championships in Germany.
In other words, the jersey was digitally altered, almost certainly with the help of an AI tool.
AI detector ZeroGPT flags a high probability that the image was AI-generated, and the jerseys themselves give it away: two have black collars, two have white, the Croatian Federation (HNS) logos are blurred and inconsistent in shape, and overall the jerseys look softer and less detailed than the clearly rendered faces.
Croatia’s current jersey They do not look at all like the people seen in the photo.
Is this fan demanding Lula’s arrest?
Political protest is not exactly welcome at the World Cup, but it happens anyway, as the example of Iran shows. However, some cases are worth revisiting.
Claim: “I would take a sixth title in exchange for the imprisonment of Lula and Janja. Would you support it?” The photo circulating shows a sign allegedly held by a fan that reads on xamong other places.
DW Fact Check: Fake
After opening the tournament with a 1-1 draw against Morocco and following ups and downs in the World Cup, it is still an open question whether Brazil can dream of a sixth title. However, it is clear that the fan’s message is not genuine. ZeroGPT estimates the probability that an image is AI-generated at 96%, and other AI detectors fall in the same range.
A closer look reveals this. The handwriting on the sign is suspiciously neat, allegedly written by hand: the letters are too uniform, and the cardboard texture looks unnaturally smooth. The sign-bearer has a glowing, idealized look on his face that has become a clear sign of the AI generation.
Zoom further and the background gets weirder still, with some faces looking incomplete, almost melting into the wall behind them. other versionsThis fake has also surfaced, showing different people holding exactly the same sign, and AI detectors flag them as generated as well.
A grand opening ceremony with an Iranian boat?
about 1.2 billion peopleThe opening ceremony of the 2026 FIFA World Cup was witnessed at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. After this, many of its clips circulated on social media, but some showed a show that never happened.
Claim:A VideoThe X is claimed to show the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Cup.
DW Fact Check: Fake
The approximately five-minute clip features fireworks, dance numbers and performances representing the participating countries. The actual inauguration ceremony looked quite different and included different artistic elements.
look carefullyAnd the stadium itself gives it. In different scenes, its roof is sometimes round, sometimes oval, sometimes open, sometimes closed, its shape changing repeatedly during the “ceremony”.
Look even closer and the typical AI video appears: visual artifacts, distorted objects, blurred faces. AI detectors again mark the high potential of generative AI here.
Claiming to be showing a different video A huge golden boat, the symbol of IranSame problem in same function; The size of the stadium also changes in the middle of the video.
Deepfakes that leave a mark
Thanks to AI tools that are now widely available and easy to use, such fakes can be uncovered in no time, and at mega-events like the World Cup, they spread almost as fast.
And they’re not harmless: “These kinds of moments are really energizing and really awe-inspiring for the audience. They’re based on narratives and really quite hot topics, so it can be said that people all over the world are paying attention to it,” Ajder said.
The main thing for this World Cup: keep a close eye not only on the matches, but also on whatever is going viral online.
This article was originally written in German.