Fake AI images of protester go viral after woman punched at Trump's Ohio rally

A protester who heckled Donald Trump at his midterm rally in Youngstown, Ohio, was physically assaulted and removed from the event, but fake AI-generated photos recreating the incident are going viral online. The images carry digital watermarks identifying them as AI-generated. While footage confirms the woman was punched, there is no evidence to support Trump’s claim that the protester was "paid" to disrupt his speech, as he mocked the protester's weight. Vedika Bahl explains in Truth or Fake. One image shows a young woman wearing a “Release the Epstein files” T-shirt, raising both middle fingers as angry Donald Trump supporters surround her. Shared widely on X and Threads, the image prompted one user to describe her as a “hero” standing against “male violence”. The user claimed the woman had been punched, had her hair pulled and had been dragged to the ground before security arrived and removed her from the scene. While footage confirms that the woman was punched in the face and subsequently removed by security, the image circulating online is not authentic. It was generated using artificial intelligence. The image contains an invisible digital watermark known as SynthID, and tha...