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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Nick Robins-Early and Kari Paul

‘All eyes on Rafah’: how AI-generated image swept across social media

People on an overloaded small van or scooter
Palestinians in Rafah flee with their belongings on Wednesday. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty

An image depicting refugee tents spelling out the phrase “all eyes on Rafah” has become one of the most-shared pieces of content relating to the Israel-Gaza war, spreading rapidly on social media this week. The graphic, which was generated using artificial intelligence, had been shared on Instagram more than 45m times by Wednesday.

The image and reactions to it have also gained traction outside Instagram. On TikTok, one creator’s video commenting on the image amassed 10m plays within 24 hours of being posted. After the image was shared on a pro-Palestinian account on X on Monday, the post gained 8m views and 188,000 retweets within days.

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