A deepfake image depicting one of the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack is among a slew of false information that has spread online following the tragedy.<\/p>\n
ABC NEWS Verify has found multiple examples of social media users spreading false information about the attackers and victims – which are receiving millions of views.<\/p>\n
Arsen Ostrovsky was injured in the attack on 14 December.<\/p>\n
Ostrovsky photographed himself with blood on his face and shirt in an image that was published to a friend’s X account just hours after the attack.<\/p>\n
He could not have known when he took the striking image that it would be used to create antisemitic propaganda.<\/p>\n
Late on Monday night, an article appeared on well-known Russian disinformation site Pravda, which claims to be a world news website.<\/p>\n
The article contained an AI-generated image of Ostrovsky having his face painted red alongside a screenshot of the inaccurate result of an AI detector, which claimed the image was “100 per cent human”.<\/p>\n
The article claimed Ostrovsky was part of “Mossad propaganda”.<\/p>\n
The image was created by Google’s artificial intelligence, which ABC NEWS Verify confirmed by testing it in the company’s Synth ID detector tool, which checks for the company’s invisible digital watermark.<\/p>\n
Visual analysis of the image also reveals it is a fake.<\/p>\n
The writing on the T-shirt in the image, for example, is unreadable, and does not match the original image.<\/p>\n
The “film set” in the background of the deepfake image appears off, with tripod legs crisscrossing and seeming to hover just above the ground.<\/p>\n
In a larger, non-cropped version of the image that appeared elsewhere on the internet, there are two cars in the background that appear to morph into each other.<\/p>\n
Ostrovsky also appeared on a Channel Nine live stream after having his head bandaged.<\/p>\n
He is wearing shorts in the live stream, rather than the pants present in the deepfake, and the blood on his shirt also does not match.<\/p>\n
In the hours since the attack, Ostrovsky has posted a photo of himself in a hospital gown as he recovers.<\/p>\n
A look at Pravda’s domain history shows it is registered in Russia and has a history of spreading pro-Russian propaganda.<\/p>\n