AI-generated fake images showing Rwanda's President Paul Kagame in M23-labeled military uniform were circulated on social media platforms, creating false political misinformation about his alleged connection to the M23 rebel group.
Multiple AI-generated images circulated on X (formerly Twitter) showing Rwanda's President Paul Kagame wearing military fatigues with an 'M23' badge, falsely implying a connection to the M23 rebel group active in the Democratic Republic of Congo. PesaCheck fact-checkers conducted reverse image searches on Google Lens, Tineye and Bing, finding multiple similar fabricated photos shared across different social media platforms. The images showed several inconsistencies indicating AI generation, including a polished appearance of Kagame's face, disoriented eyes, and digitally added badges that didn't align naturally with fabric texture. The badge style and placement were inconsistent with standard Rwandan military insignia, which typically shows 'CIC' and 'RDF' for Commander in Chief and Rwanda Defence Forces. AI detection tools including Hive Moderation and Sightengine confirmed the images were 99.5% and 99% likely to be AI-generated or deepfake content respectively. The fake images appeared during heightened tensions as M23 rebels claimed to have captured Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC, with the UN describing 'mass panic' among two million residents. No credible media outlets published these fabricated images, though they spread across multiple social media platforms.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that inadvertently generate or spread incorrect or deceptive information, which can lead to inaccurate beliefs in users and undermine their autonomy. Humans that make decisions based on false beliefs can experience physical, emotional or material harms
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Other
Without clearly specifying the intentionality
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed