Are the Pink Panther Costume Photos From the France Protests Real? No, These 4 Images Were Altered With AI
No. Photos of a person in a Pink Panther costume, said to come from the protests in France, were built by editing real photos from other places and years with AI. Three of the four images trace back to an original taken in Armenia, Greece or after a Paris football celebration. For the fourth, there is no reliable proof it was taken at the protests.
What Are the Pink Panther Protest Photos?
They are a set of images showing a person in a Pink Panther costume at the protests in Paris, shared widely on social media.
In one, the character makes a rude gesture at police. In another, they run from a water cannon. In a third, they throw a Molotov cocktail. In the fourth, riot police seem to be detaining them. They got a lot of likes, and the question was whether any of them were taken at the demonstrations in France.
How Do We Know the Pink Panther Photos Are Fake?
Doğrula’s fact-checkers examined the four images one by one. Here is what each search turned up.
Image 1: A 2015 protest in Armenia
A reverse image search led to a Reuters report on protests in Armenia from 2015. One photo in it matches the viral image almost exactly, apart from the costume. The Pink Panther was added with AI.
Image 2: Running from a water cannon
No original appeared in credible news outlets. The image spread through social media posts. An OpenAI detection tool suggested it may have been made with OpenAI tools, though such results are not conclusive on their own. The vehicle in the picture also doesn’t match the police vehicles seen at the French protests.
Taken together, there is no reliable evidence that this is a real photo from the Paris protests.
Image 3: A 2010 protest in Athens
The background and the people around the costumed figure match a photo from a 2010 protest in Athens, Greece. Apart from the costume, the viral image and the original show no clear difference. It is a 16-year-old photo from another country.
Image 4: A Paris Saint-Germain celebration
The original shows riot police detaining a PSG fan during celebrations after the club won the 2025 UEFA Champions League final. The Pink Panther was added to a real photo from a football celebration, not a protest.
What Does This Case Show About AI-Edited Photos?
A photo can look realistic and still not be from the place and time claimed. AI can change one detail in a real photo, and the rest keeps the image believable.
Three of these images are real photos with a single addition. That makes them harder to catch than fully generated images. The scene, the crowd and the police are all real, just not from Paris and not from this month.
How to Check a Protest Photo: 4 Quick Checks
- Run a reverse image search. It can lead you to an older original and show what was changed.
- Check vehicles, uniforms and signs. They should match the place claimed, as the police vehicle did not here.
- Be careful with one-off detector results. A detector is a clue, not a verdict, as the water cannon image shows.
- Test it with UncovAI’s image detection or the AI detector extension. They check an image without leaving the page you are scrolling.
FAQ
Are the Pink Panther photos from the France protests real?
No. Three of the four viral images are real photos from other places and years with a Pink Panther costume added using AI. For the fourth, no reliable source places it at the Paris protests.
Where do the original photos come from?
One is a 2015 Reuters photo from protests in Armenia, one is a 2010 photo from a protest in Athens, Greece, and one is from the 2025 Paris Saint-Germain Champions League celebrations.
Can an AI detector prove the water cannon image is fake?
Not alone. An OpenAI detection tool suggested it may have been made with OpenAI tools, but such results are not conclusive. The finding rests on that result together with the lack of an original source and a vehicle that doesn’t match French police vehicles.
How can I check whether a protest photo is real?
Run a reverse image search to find an older original, check vehicles, uniforms and signs against the place claimed, and test the image with an AI detector.
Sources
- Doğrula, fact-check published October 21, 2026, citing Reuters (June 23, 2015) and archive photos from Athens (2010).
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