A wave of false content has flooded social media following the confirmation of the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, 'El Mencho', leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). One such example is a fake image purporting to show 'El Mencho's' body in a gold-plated coffin, wearing an imposing Saint Jude Thaddeus medal. Although this watermark is invisible to the human eye, it is designed to be identifiable by SynthID, even if the image has been cropped or compressed. The post containing the fake image states: 'Photograph of Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, 'El Mencho', in his last rest in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in a gold-plated coffin, wearing an imposing Saint Jude Thaddeus medal. An end that reflects the opulence of his life.' This deceptive post has garnered significant attention, with 2 million views, 19,000 likes, 6,000 saves, and over 1,000 shares on X alone. The image was also shared by content creators and communicators on X, such as Evodio Camarena, who mistakenly validated it. This fake image is part of the flood of misleading content that has overwhelmed social networks after the CJNG leader's death. Other examples include a fake image of the supposedly bullet-riddled body of 'El Mencho', also generated with AI, and a false image of a plane allegedly on fire at Guadalajara Airport during the violence that followed Nemesio Oseguera's death. An analysis by SynthID revealed digital watermarks in the file, which are used by Google to identify content generated or modified by its AI tools. SynthID is a Google DeepMind technology that marks and identifies AI-generated content. Aristegui Noticias corroborated that the image was created or edited using Artificial Intelligence.
