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The people’s newsroom

Fact checkBRICS

Viral BRICS selfie of PM Modi with Putin, Xi and Raisi is AI-made and false

The image carries markers of OpenAI's tools and shows Ebrahim Raisi, who died in May 2024. A BJP spokesperson posted it and later deleted it.

From the editorial deskPublished

The claim

A photo shows PM Narendra Modi taking a selfie with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Ebrahim Raisi at the 2026 BRICS Summit in Delhi.

Claim by: Social media users; posted by BJP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi, who later deleted it
Seen on: Social media, first seen 13 September 2026

Verdict: False

  1. True
  2. Mostly true
  3. Misleading
  4. False

What we found

The image is false. It was made with artificial intelligence, according to BOOM, which found an OpenAI watermark and confirmed it with OpenAI’s own verification tool. It also shows Ebrahim Raisi, who died in May 2024 and could not have attended a summit in 2026. Iran was represented at the Delhi summit by President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Putin and Xi did attend the summit, and PM Modi welcomed both at Bharat Mandapam.

The BRICS selfie

  1. 20 May 2024Ebrahim Raisi dies in a helicopter crash
  2. 12–13 Sep 2026India hosts the BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam, Delhi
  3. Sep 2026Shazia Ilmi posts the image, then deletes it
  4. 13 Sep 2026BOOM rates the image false

The evidence

What was shared

BOOM listed the claim as “Photo shows Modi with world leaders at BRICS summit”, made by social media handles. It reported that an image of PM Modi taking a selfie with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Ebrahim Raisi was shared as a real photo from the 2026 BRICS Summit. BJP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi posted it with a message praising Modi and criticising opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, and later deleted the post.

Source:BOOM, 13 September 2026

The image carries AI markers

BOOM said it “found a watermark in the photograph indicating it was generated using OpenAI’s tools”. It then ran the image through OpenAI’s verification tool, which “found embedded markers that confirmed that the photo was generated using OpenAI”.

Source:BOOM, 13 September 2026

One of the leaders died in 2024

Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border on 20 May 2024, BOOM noted, citing a Reuters report. The 2026 summit was held at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi on 12 and 13 September.

Source:BOOM, 13 September 2026

Iran sent a different President

Free Press Journal reported on 12 September 2026 that PM Modi welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the summit. ThePrint had reported on 26 August that Pezeshkian was expected to represent Iran. A genuine group photo from the summit would show Pezeshkian, not Raisi.

Sources:Free Press Journal, 12 September 2026ThePrint, 26 August 2026

Why this claim spread

The image appeared while India was hosting the summit, an event that drew Xi on his first visit to India in nearly seven years, Free Press Journal reported. BOOM said it was posted by a spokesperson of the ruling party, with a message aimed at opposition leaders, before it was deleted. BOOM linked an archived copy of the post. The desk has no sourced data on how widely the image was shared or how many accounts posted it, and the deletion does not by itself show how far it had travelled.

LokVox does not reproduce or link to the image. Readers can see BOOM’s full analysis at the link above.

Sources:BOOM, 13 September 2026Free Press Journal, 12 September 2026

The documents