Accounts and pages on social media circulated a photo of the head of the Qalaya municipality in rural Jableh with traces of blood on his face, claiming he had been beaten and humiliated by government-affiliated elements over his intervention in the case of the girl Batoul Alloush.
The verification team traced the circulating claim through keyword searches across open sources. The results showed the head of the Qalaya municipality, Hammoud Ismail Maala, appearing in a video recording in which he denies being subjected to any assault or severe beating, confirming that he is well and going about his daily work as normal. The team also examined the circulated photo with Hive Moderation, a tool specialized in detecting AI-generated content, and the results confirmed the image is digitally altered and not genuine.
Why is the story misleading?
Digitally altered content: the mayor’s photo was digitally edited to show fake traces of blood, and it was published alongside an entirely fabricated story.
