A fabricated image depicting a significant explosion near the Pentagon was circulated on social media platforms on Monday, triggering a brief decline in the stock market.

Subsequently, a multitude of social media accounts, including several verified ones, shared the counterfeit image, exacerbating the state of confusion.

Afterward, authorities officially confirmed that no such incident had taken place. Keen-eyed investigators on social media, such as Nick Waters from Bellingcat, an online news verification group, promptly identified several notable inconsistencies with the image.

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These included the absence of any credible eyewitnesses to substantiate the purported event, particularly considering the Pentagon’s busy surroundings.

Waters tweeted, “This is why it’s exceedingly challenging (some may argue virtually impossible) to fabricate a convincing counterfeit of such an occurrence.”

Additionally, discernible disparities between the depicted building and the actual Pentagon served as clear evidence. This disparity can be easily ascertained by employing tools like Google Street View to compare the two images.

Furthermore, the presence of peculiar elements like a levitating lamp post and a black pole protruding from the pavement unequivocally exposed the image’s deceptive nature.

The complexities faced by artificial intelligence in faithfully recreating locations without introducing sporadic anomalies persist.