On October 13, the anti-opposition Facebook page “Natsebs Ra?” (“What’s with the UNM?”) posted two photos (1; 2), depicting opposition politicians Mikheil Saakashvili, Paata Burchuladze, and Murtaz Zodelava. In the first photo Saakashvili appears alongside American philanthropist George Soros.
The second photo shows opera singer Paata Burchuladze and politician Murtaz Zodelava with former state security service chief Grigol Liluashvili standing between them. The post’s caption – “The traitor sold to the UNM” – is presumably referring to Liluashvili.
The circulated photos of Saakashvili, Burchuladze, and Zodelava are not authentic. The image showing Mikheil Saakashvili and George Soros was most likely generated using an AI-based application that creates similar visuals. The second photo has been digitally manipulated – Grigol Liluashvili was added to a genuine photo that originally featured only Burchuladze and Zodelava.
To verify the authenticity of the circulating photos, we used reverse image search tools. The search showed that these photos had not appeared online prior to their publication, which, combined with their suspicious appearance, indicates they were created using image-editing software or artificial intelligence. Although genuine photos of George Soros and Mikheil Saakashvili together can be found online, none match the image circulated by the Facebook page.
Closer examination of the photo featuring the former president of Georgia and George Soros reveals a curtain in the background identical to those seen in images circulating in social media. Social media users employ various applications (for instance, Hicut) that allows to generate composite images of specific people. These applications primarily rely on artificial intelligence. Numerous TikTok videos demonstrate photos created with the identical background and explain in detail how users can generate similar visuals using different apps.
We also checked the image using AI-generated content detection tools. Some of them indicated, with varying levels of certainty, that the photo was AI generated.
The second photo shared by the anti-opposition Facebook page was digitally altered by inserting Grigol Liluashvili. On September 30, Paata Burchuladze posted a selfie on his Facebook page with the UNM member Murtaz Zodelava. A closer look at the photo shows that their clothing, posture, facial expressions, the room’s background, and other minor details exactly match the image shared by “Natsebs Ra?”.
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
