Fact Check: Photo Purportedly Shows Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Rubbing Noses and Cuddling. Here's the Truth
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Claim:
A photo shared online in May 2024 authentically shows Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg rubbing noses and cuddling.
Rating:
On May 14, 2024, a Reddit user posted a close-up photo seemingly showing X owner Elon Musk cuddling and rubbing noses with Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg.
The Reddit user said the image needed investigating as they were confused about whether it was generated using artificial intelligence:
Is this photo AI? I've heard people say it is, I've heard people say it's from way back in 2019, and I don't know what to believe. I think the crew needs to do an entire investigation on this photograph.
X users made comparable comments, with one saying it was real and another writing: "I don't think this is AI generated."
Similar posts appeared elsewhere on Reddit, TikTok and Instagram, as well as on LinkedIn and Facebook in January 2024. Together, they had amassed more than 4.2 million interactions at the time of this writing.
I don't think this is AI generated https://t.co/l33bE4Uo8I
— DelysidOfficial (@DelysidOfficial) May 13, 2024
However, Snopes put the picture through two AI-image detectors and both showed an extremely high likelihood of the photo being created using AI, which is why we have rated the image as "Fake."
The picture was also clearly not real. If it was, reputable media outlets would have likely written news articles about it, but Snopes found no evidence of such reports.
(umm-maybe AI image detector)
Snopes could not determine the source of the photo; however, the earliest iteration we found on social media was in a collection of similar AI-generated images of the billionaire pair canoodling on Facebook that was posted on Jan. 5, 2024.
(Is It AI?)
Another X user, whose post had amassed more than 7.9 million views at the time of this writing, also stated the image was AI-generated.
"If we make enough pictures like this, AI generated images will certainly be banned from the platform," they wrote.
Sources:
AI Image Detector - a Hugging Face Space by Umm-Maybe. https://huggingface.co/spaces/umm-maybe/AI-image-detector. Accessed 14 May 2024.
Elon Musk Mark Zuckerberg Cuddling - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=elon+musk+mark+zuckerberg+cuddling&source=lmns&tbm=nws&bih=593&biw=1280&prmd=ivnbmtz&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3s47c5Y-GAxXPQaQEHafkCnUQ0pQJKAJ6BAgBEAY. Accessed 15 May 2024.
Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid032JpVtN598ZwQQ8z9HGY8NM5YvA95UzK94JoLi9tF6czNX8QGMsmAgC9e6ywZiRqTl&id=100091621982940. Accessed 15 May 2024.
'Https://Isitai.Com/Ai-Image-Detector/'. Is It AI?, https://isitai.com/ai-image-detector/. Accessed 14 May 2024.
'Https://Twitter.Com/The8BitIdiot/Status/1789710024622633136'. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/The8BitIdiot/status/1789710024622633136. Accessed 15 May 2024.
