False! Viral image of South African gay couple kissing at Black Star Square in Ghana, not AI-generated

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Claim: A lawmaker in Ghana, Rockson Dafeamekpor, during a debate on the floor of Parliament, claimed that viral photos of a South African gay couple, Rue and Lue kissing at Independence Square, were AI-generated.

Verdict: False! DUBAWA’s checks using AI verification tools found no trace of AI-generated elements in the images.

Full Text

In June 2025, a South African queer couple, Lue and Rue, posted a series of pictures on Facebook and Instagram, showing themselves in Ghana and expressing affection in front of iconic landmarks, including the Black Star Square and the statue of Kwame Nkrumah.

The couple stated that the pictures were part of the #ShowGhanaLove Campaign, which aims to highlight the challenges faced by Ghana’s LGBTQI community.

However, the campaign received backlash from segments of the Ghanaian public, including lawmakers and Ghana’s Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Sam George, describing it as disrespectful to Ghanaian cultural values.

However, Nelson Rockson Dafeamekpor, politician and majority chief whip of Ghana’s parliament, dismissed the images, claiming they were AI-generated.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on July 11, 2025, the lawmaker stated that the images were created using artificial intelligence and then circulated on social media:

“The matters that the First Deputy Minority Whip alludes to, the fact that two persons were seen kissing at the Independence Square, are totally false. It was an AI-generated image posted by someone to their social media handle.”

He was responding to remarks by another politician, Habib Iddrisu, who had called for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to be summoned to the House to address recent LGBTQ-related developments, including the visit by the South African couple.

Due to the controversy this issue has generated and its potential to hurt some Ghanaians’ cultural sensibilities, DUBAWA sought to verify whether the viral photo of the couple kissing at Independence Square was indeed AI-generated.

Verification

First, DUBAWA’s researcher analysed the image using Hive Moderation, an AI-generated content detection tool. The result revealed that the image is not likely to contain AI-generated content.

Another tool, SightEngine, similarly indicated that the image was unlikely to be AI-generated, giving it a score of 22%.

The researcher also manually inspected the image. In AI-generated visuals, anomalies, distortions, and inconsistencies, particularly in body parts, often signal inauthenticity.

In this case, the couple’s fingers, arms, and other body parts appeared natural and consistent compared to other images they had posted. Additionally, the background elements in the image, specifically Independence Square, matched authentic photos of the monument.

The couple also referenced “love-bombing” Ghana’s iconic landmarks in their Facebook post, where this and other similar images were shared.

Also, after being confronted with evidence by a user on X, @Gen_Buhari, Rockson Dafeamekpor retracted his earlier remarks, acknowledging that his earlier claim of the image being AI-generated was inaccurate.