Image of demonstration in Pakistan-held Kashmir is AI-generated

"People have come out on streets at this time in Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir after lighting the torches," reads the Urdu-language X post shared on September 28, 2025.

Rawalakot city is about 110 kilometres (68 miles) south of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The post includes an image of a group of people walking and riding motorcycles carrying the flags of Pakistan's Kashmir and torches.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but has been divided between them since their independence from British rule.

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Screenshot of the false post taken on October 10, with a red X added by AFP

The same image, along with a similar claim, was shared elsewhere on Facebook and Threads -- including in Urdu-language Facebook page Jkbsnews, which has over 950,000 followers.

The false posts circulated as deadly protests broke out on the Pakistan side of contested Kashmir late September, demanding an end to lucrative benefits for the political class, such as free electricity and expensive cars (archived link).

Security forces and police have flooded the streets of Muzaffarabad in response to the protests, firing tear gas to hold back the crowds that reached up to 6,000 at their peak. At least six civilians and three officers were killed in the clashes.

Protests were called off on October 4 after the government pledged to reduce the size of the cabinet and senior officials in the civil service (archived link).

The government also agreed to investigate the violence and vandalism during the protests, including deaths on both sides (archived link). 

AI-generated

But the image bears the star-shaped watermark of Google's Gemini AI model (archived link). 

Reverse image search on Google also revealed it was labelled as "Made with Google AI".

Google's SynthID Detector -- a tool launched in May 2025 to identify AI-generated content -- detected digital watermarks that indicated it was created with the tech giant's generative model (archived link).

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Screenshot of the Google Image search result, with the Gemini logo highlighted by AFP

The image also contains visual inconsistencies -- including flames that appear to come out from protesters' hands, and torches illuminating the road in an unnaturally even level -- signs that the image was fabricated. 

AFP has previously debunked other false claims involving AI-generated content here.