Photographs of Hindu deity Ram and 3D portraits of the upcoming Ram Mandir in Ayodhya will be beamed across giant billboards in Times Square, New York on August 5, as per media reports. The display would celebrate the commencement of the temple's construction.

In the backdrop of this, several people on social media have shared an image of billboards in Times Square adorned with pictures of Ram. Avinash Goraksha, director research ProfitMart (as per his Twitter bio), tweeted the viral image claiming this was Times Square "an hour ago". The image was liked by over 1,500 users. Several other Twitter users also posted the viral image including Sunder Chaudhary, @FltLtAnoopVerma, @satyendra81 and @mauna_adiga.

Similarly, many Facebook users (1, 2, 3, 4) posted the viral image.

Tamil Nadu-based news outlet Kathir News published an article headlined, "Jai Shriram slogans to be played in Times Square on Shri Ram Bhoomi Puja". The article carried the same picture. (Translated from டைம்ஸ் ஸ்கொயரில் ஸ்ரீ ராமர் - பூமி பூஜை அன்று ஒலிக்க இருக்கும் 'ஜெய் ஸ்ரீராம்' கோஷங்கள்.!)

Fact-check

Alt News performed a keyword search "times square billboard generator" on Google and found a template on makesweet.com.

Pictures of Hindu deity Ram were added to this template which was then flipped horizontally. The similarities in the template and the viral image are given below.

1. Green billboard on top of a white building (highlighted in red).

2. Corona beer billboard close to the green billboard (highlighted in yellow).

3. An identical number of cabs in the front most row on each side of the street (highlighted in green and orange).

4. A picture of Ram has been superimposed on a poster of upcoming Hollywood movie Wicked (marked in blue). A portion of the green movie poster can be spotted behind Ram's image.

Thus, a picture showing images of Hindu deity Ram splashed all over New York's Time Square billboards was created on a website. The picture was then flipped horizontally to escape reverse-image search attempts.