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The viral video shows a person in a Pikachu costume running amid police and protests in Antalya, Turkey, according to fact-check reporting. It is reported footage—not the same thing as separate viral images showing Pikachu surrounded by police or alongside other fictional characters. Those images were assessed as AI-generated.
What does the viral video actually show?
It shows a person dressed as Pikachu running during protests in Antalya. PolitiFact reported that the footage was filmed there by Ismail Koçeroğlu, a photojournalist at Akdeniz University. Full Fact also reported that real videos showed someone dressed as Pikachu at the protests. Neither outlet identifies the person or establishes why they were wearing the costume.
The distinction matters: the footage depicts a costumed protester, not the fictional Pokémon character literally appearing at a demonstration. A social-media caption described the person as being there “to resist police violence,” but that was the poster’s characterization, not verified evidence of the protester’s motive. PolitiFact’s March 28, 2025 fact-check and Full Fact’s March 31, 2025 fact-check separate the video from misleading images circulating with it.
Why are some Pikachu protest images labeled AI-generated?
Separate still images—not the reported video—show Pikachu surrounded by police, and another image depicts Pikachu with Batman, Spider-Man, and the Joker. Fact-checkers assessed these images as inauthentic or AI-generated. Their conclusions do not establish that the video is fake, and the reported video does not authenticate the still images.
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The image of Pikachu with police
PolitiFact reported that GetReal Labs found the still image showing Pikachu surrounded by police to be inauthentic. Emmanuelle Saliba, GetReal Labs’ chief investigative officer, told PolitiFact in an email exchange dated March 28, 2025: “All three of our models trained to detect AI-generated images flagged the image as synthetic.” This assessment referred to the still image, not the video.
PolitiFact and Full Fact also relayed visual concerns in that image, including distorted or misspelled lettering on a police van. Full Fact cited digital-forensics specialist Hany Farid, of UC Berkeley and GetReal Labs, on the misspelled “POLIS” lettering and other distortions. These observations concern the image and should not be treated as evidence about the footage.
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The image with Batman, Spider-Man, and the Joker
Full Fact reported that the still image showing Pikachu alongside Batman, Spider-Man, and the Joker was made using AI. It is a separate image from the reported Antalya video. Full Fact’s fact-check of the fictional-character image explains that distinction.
What were the protests about?
Full Fact reported that the protests followed the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on corruption charges on March 19, 2025; İmamoğlu denied the charges. That context explains the reported demonstrations, but the available fact-checks do not establish the Pikachu-costumed person’s identity, motive, arrest status, or what happened to them afterward.
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How to tell the video and the viral images apart
- Video: Fact-check reporting describes genuine footage of a person wearing a Pikachu costume amid protests and police in Antalya.
- Still image with police: GetReal Labs assessed the image as inauthentic; reported visual issues included distorted police-van lettering.
- Still image with fictional characters: Full Fact reported that the image of Pikachu with Batman, Spider-Man, and the Joker was AI-generated.
When a post combines the footage with one of the still images, assess each item separately. A caption or montage does not establish that an image is a frame from the video.
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