A photo has been circulated on social media showing Portuguese star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo wearing a scarf resembling the colors of the Palestinian flag (source). In the image, Ronaldo appears to be distributing food-like items to several small children. This photo has been widely shared on social media with the caption: “To be human, one needs humanity—something Ronaldo has,” claiming the image is real.

See the Facebook posts spreading such a claim here (archive), here (archive), and here) (archive).

As of the publication of this report, the above-mentioned posts promoting this claim have received combined reactions from over 116,000 distinct accounts.

See the YouTube post spreading such a claim here (archive).

See the Instagram post promoting the same claim here.

Fact-Check

According to the investigation by the Rumor Scanner team, the image showing Cristiano Ronaldo wearing a scarf in the colors of the Palestinian flag is not real. Rather, it is a fake image created using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Upon investigating the image, no mainstream media outlet or credible source could verify its existence. If the photo were real, it would have been featured in multiple international media outlets.

Observing the circulated image under discussion reveals several anomalies in the scarf on Ronaldo and the hands of the children in front of him—features commonly found in AI-generated content.

To further confirm the matter, the image was tested on an AI content detection platform, Hive Moderation, which determined the image has a 99.9% probability of being AI-generated.

Therefore, an AI-generated image has been falsely promoted on social media as a real photo of Cristiano Ronaldo wearing a scarf in the colors of the Palestinian flag, which is false.