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By Euronews with AFP
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Thailand’s foreign ministry has denied a viral online claim that French President Emmanuel Macron knelt before the country’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn while presenting France’s highest state honours during the Thai monarch’s state visit to Paris.
The claim spread after an AI-generated image circulated widely on Thai social media following the king’s official visit to France, the first by a Thai monarch since 1960, marking 170 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
During a state dinner at the presidential palace, Macron presented the 73-year-old king with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour — France’s highest award — and Queen Suthida with the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, according to Thai media.
Soon after, an image appeared online purporting to show Macron kneeling before the king as he presented the award.
One Thai-language Facebook post featuring the image amassed more than 40,000 reactions and 2,000 shares.
According to the Thai fact-checking organisation COFACT, the post was shared nearly 400 times within its first hour online.
It was also shared by a page with more than two million followers that frequently publishes pro-military and nationalist commentary.
Many comments in Thai expressed increased admiration for the French leader, with one calling him “so charming” and saying he had “completely won over Thai hearts with this”.
Another described him as a “true leader.”
However, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said no such moment took place.
“There is no evidence of any image showing Emmanuel Macron kneeling to present a royal decoration,” a ministry official told AFP.
Official photographs published by Thailand’s foreign ministry show Macron standing while presenting the award.
The image also has visual inconsistencies: comparing the clothing worn by the figure resembling Queen Suthida with photographs taken during the visit shows that the outfit is different.
Finally, The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, ran the image through OpenAI’s verification tool, which found that it contained a SynthID watermark and was “generated using OpenAI tools.”
It’s not the first time AI-generated imagery of Thailand’s royal family has gone viral online.
In June, images claiming to show Thai Princess Sirivannavari crying after the death of the king’s eldest daughter, known as Princess Bha, gained widespread sympathy online.
This image was, however, also AI-generated.
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