Fact Check: Image of Tamil Nadu CM Stalin on NY Times Square billboard is edited

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin left for the United States on August 27, 2024, to have discussions on investments for the State with international companies.

In this context, an image of MK Stalin projected on a billboard in Times Square, New York City, is being widely shared on social media. Those sharing the image claim that it shows the popularity of the Tamil Nadu CM in the United States.

A social media user shared the image with a caption that reads, “Today, the life-size photo of Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin was seen dominating the Times Square in New York. Devotees should look carefully.” (Translated from Hindi)

Similar posts can be found here and here.

SouthCheck found that the image was fake. The viral image has been edited.

On doing a Google reverse image search, we found a similar image uploaded on a website on January 2, 2015. The image did not feature Stalin’s photo in Times Square.

We also found the same image without Stalin’s photo on another website.

We compared the viral image with the one available on these websites and found them similar. Both images had advertisements for Toshiba and TDK. We could also see the same street view and the blue building in the background.

While we could not verify the source of the original image, we can ascertain that the viral image has been edited to add Stalin’s image digitally.