AI-generated images of Portsmouth anti-migrant protest spread on social media
Published · updated · curated by AI Is Going Just Great
Source: fullfact.org ↗
Both images contain a SynthID—an invisible watermark that indicates they were created or edited using AI tools.
Two fabricated images depicting protests in Portsmouth circulated on social media following a real demonstration on 6 September 2026, in which hundreds of people blocked roads after around 140 migrants arrived at Eastney ferry port. The fake images — one showing a crowd with police, another showing masked men in black wading into the sea carrying a flag — were identified as AI-generated via embedded SynthID watermarks, as well as visual tells: blurred faces, garbled sign text, and a Spinnaker Tower painted the wrong color.
Fact-checker Full Fact confirmed neither image matched the actual protest location, and that genuine footage of the event had already been published by mainstream media. Many users shared the images without questioning them.