Fact-Check: Is the 'Dark Zuckerberg' a Real Person or an AI Creation?

A captivating image has taken social media by storm, garnering multiple million views. In this intriguing snapshot, a black man bears an uncanny resemblance to none other than Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and CEO of Facebook and Meta. But is this mysterious doppelgänger a real person, or is there more to the story? Let's explore the reality and distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Social Media Claims

An image has been shared on Twitter featuring a black man who has been referred to as the "Dark Zuckerberg" due to his striking resemblance to the Meta CEO. This post has led to widespread discussion about the man's identity and has accumulated over 15 million views.

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Apart from Twitter, the image has also been shared on Facebook and got almost 200K likes and 45K shares.

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Fact-Check

Our investigation starts with a reverse image search. This search leads us to a Reddit thread focused on AI-generated content. A user named "rare_gianpaolo" posted the image. The caption was "Mark Zuckerberg but he's actually a man from Nigeria". The post is tagged as “AI Showcase - Midjourney”.

Source | Archive

We also found that the user goes by the real name Gian Paolo Rosa and maintains an Instagram account, @raregianpaolo. Here, a diverse range of his artistic works is on display. Rosa, the creator of the viral image, confirmed upon our inquiry that he is indeed the creator of the viral image.

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Conclusion

The viral image captivating the internet, often called "Dark Zuckerberg," is not a real person's photograph. Instead, it's a product of artificial intelligence technology by Midjourney. The artist, Gian Paolo Rosa, confirmed to the Fact Crescendo Team that he was the image's creator.