A viral photo of a man apparently defecating in front of a gas pump in Brampton, Ont., is sparking outrage online, while some are calling the image a fake.
Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal, who claimed to own the property in the photo, says the image is fabricated as the incident it purports to show never happened.
“I own this property. This DID NOT happen. It’s photoshopped,” he said on X.
When asked to provide proof by users on social media including True North’s Harrison Faulkner, he didn’t respond.
The photo of the turban-wearing man squatting with his pants down while holding a coffee cup underneath him was taken at the K2 Mart at 35 Cherrycrest Dr. in Brampton.
A worker at the K2 Mart told True North over the phone that he doesn’t know anything about the incident, doesn’t have access to any of the security cameras and could not provide the contact information of the owner who would have that access.
When asked if Grewal was prepared to provide security camera footage or any other proof that the image was altered using AI or Photoshop, Grewal did not respond to True North’s requests.
Several commenters on X claiming experience in Photoshop said there are no telltale signs of the image being doctored.
It’s impossible to say definitively whether or not the image is altered in any way without the metadata of the original photo. However, several AI detection sites, such as ChatGPT, Is it AI, and Fake Image Detector, say “no errors were found” in the photo, indicating it wasn’t altered.
A site called FotoForensics also shows that there are no obvious signs of manipulation of the photo.
ChatGPT says the image “Does not have obvious signs of being AI-generated and appears to be a genuine photograph.”
Many are pointing at the reflections in the image, saying lighting and reflections are difficult to replicate in Photoshop, and if the image was doctored, the artist would have to possess a skill worthy of Hollywood movies.
Others point to the reflections and come to the opposite conclusion, saying that the reflection shows a man standing where he is squatting in the photo. Others say the man’s complexion doesn’t match his supposed country of origin.
Baaz News Org also called the image disinformation, though the only source provided was Grewal “confirming” that the incident never happened.
Grewal left the Liberal caucus in 2018 to deal with a “gambling problem” and underwent an RCMP investigation for fraud and breach of trust charges. However, a judge dismissed all charges against him due to a lack of evidence from the Crown against him.