Recently, there has been significant discussion on social media about Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin's visit to the United States. Amid this, a photo went viral showing Stalin's photo displayed at Times Square in New York. The image was widely shared by media outlets with claims that the banner was put up to welcome Stalin to the United States.
A verified X (formerly Twitter) account, DMK Updates, shared the photo on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, "Power of new history, tomorrow is ours. (Archived link)
Another verified X account called ABP Naidu also shared the image, writing, "A warm welcome to Chief Minister M K Stalin who is on a visit to America." (Archived link)
Many news outlets shared the photo, though several have since deleted or altered their posts.
Fact Check
To investigate the authenticity of the viral image, Alt News conducted a reverse image search. This led to the discovery of an article from the Nantucket Preservation Trust titled "Friday's Search: History of Times Square," published on January 2, 2015. Every element in this photo is the same as in the viral photo, except that in place of Stalin's image, there are other advertisements.
The same image was found in a 2011 Facebook post as well.
When Alt News compared the viral image with the original, it became evident that Stalin's picture had been edited onto the advertisements at Times Square.
Despite this, social media users began sharing a video, purportedly proving the authenticity of the viral photo.
A verified X user, Kalgi Kumar, posted the video, suggesting it was evidence that disproved that the image was edited. (Archived link)
Similarly, the DMK Updates X handle also shared the video, captioning it "Fact-check."
Alt News continued its investigation by conducting a reverse image search on frames from the video. We found a post from the X account Spark Media which showed banners of M K Stalin at Times Square.
Additionally, a post by America-DMK confirmed that banners welcoming the Tamil Nadu chief minister were indeed displayed in Times Square. The post mentioned that individuals like Balamuruganagan, Thani Ravi, Gosal, and Mani were part of the event. In the video, Balamuruganagan is seen speaking in front of a banner of M K Stalin, matching the viral video but with slight differences in image details.
Comparing the viral photo with the images shown in the video, Alt News identified discrepancies in the design, such as variations in text size, flag shapes, colours, and Stalin's photo itself.
To sum it up, the viral image being shared, purported to be a banner of M K Stalin displayed at Times Square to welcome him to the US, is an edited photo. However, it is true that banners of chief minister M K Stalin were indeed displayed at Times Square during his visit.
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