Viral Images of Children ‘Arrested’ Over Maryam Nawaz Video Found AI-Generated

Images circulating on social media allegedly showing a group of children being arrested for making a video against Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz have been found to be AI-generated.

A keyword search of “ رحیم یار خان بند” was conducted on Facebook and TikTok to trace the original source of the clip. While the search led to several other links making the same claim on Facebook, the keyword search on TikTok led to the original clip, posted by an account named Rpk King on 30 July 2026. The user’s profile picture featured two of the children seen in the video under investigation, indicating that the profile belonged to them.

The claim surfaced on social media after a Facebook account shared a 17-second video on August 7, 2026, showing several boys addressing Maryam Nawaz over prolonged power outages in their village in Rahim Yar Khan.

In the video, one of the children says in Seraiki that their village had been without electricity for five days, with power returning for only about an hour at night. He warned that they would shut down Rahim Yar Khan if electricity was not restored.

Two images were also shared with the video. The first allegedly showed the children standing outside a police station with two police officers, while the second showed them standing with their hands joined, apparently asking for forgiveness.

The accompanying social media posts claimed that the children had been arrested after posting the protest video on TikTok.

Fact Check

There is no credible evidence that the children were arrested for making the video against Maryam Nawaz.

The original video was traced to a TikTok account named Rpk King, where it was posted on July 30, 2026. The account's profile picture featured two of the same children seen in the video.

The account also continued posting videos after the alleged arrest, indicating that the children were not taken into police custody as claimed in the viral posts.

For further verification, Soch Fact Check then ran both the images through a tool designed by OpenAI to check if it was created using the American artificial intelligence company’s tools. It confirmed that the pictures had been “generated using OpenAI tools,” as it “found a SynthID watermark that originated from OpenAI.” 

Further evidence emerged from the comments section of the original video. A user identified as Malik Aqeel shared one of the allegedly arrest-related images on August 1 with the caption "updated."

The same user later commented on another TikTok post spreading the arrest claim and stated that the image was AI-generated and that he had shared it himself in the comments.

Signs the images were AI-generated

A closer examination of the two images revealed several inconsistencies.

The police officers shown in the pictures are wearing different uniforms. In one image, the officers appear to be wearing black uniforms, while in the other they are shown wearing olive-green uniforms.

The signs visible in the background also contain distorted and nonsensical Urdu text, another common indication of AI-generated imagery.

One of the signs in the first image appears to read "پولیس تانہ", whereas the correct Urdu spelling of "thana" is "تھانہ".

The images were also examined using an OpenAI tool designed to identify content generated with OpenAI systems. The tool detected a SynthID watermark associated with OpenAI and indicated that the images had been generated using OpenAI tools.

The user's admission, visual inconsistencies and the SynthID detection collectively establish that the images were AI-generated.

Another TikTok account shared a similar claim of the children being arrested by the police for making a video against Nawaz. Khan commented on the video saying: 

“o bahi yea Ai h MN NY he yea picture comments ki thi.”

Viral Claim

The images spread widely across Facebook and other social media platforms, with one post receiving hundreds of reactions and thousands of views. Other posts carrying the same claim also gained significant engagement.

However, the available evidence does not support the claim that the children were arrested for making a video against Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

Conclusion: The viral images allegedly showing children being arrested for making a video against Maryam Nawaz are AI-generated. There is also no credible evidence confirming that the children were arrested over the video.