Does a still image in a video on social media show the daughter of naturopath Barbara O'Neill being sentenced to prison for supposedly revealing "health secrets"? No, that's not true: A tool used to detect AI-generated images found evidence that the image of a woman in an orange prison jumpsuit in a courtroom is not real and was likely created by artificial intelligence. Lead Stories has previously found similar claims involving unregistered naturopathic practitioners and their purported family members to be false.
The claim appeared in a reel (archived here), on Facebook on May 19, 2024. The caption opened:
Revealing all secrets #healthsecrets #healthcoach #doctoradvice #wellness #fatloss #healthfinds #holistichealing
Text overlaid on an image of a woman in an orange jumpsuit in a courtroom reads:
While everyone is focusing on Diddy or the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse 🤦🏼♂️
They want to distract us from the fact that they sentenced Barbara O'Neill's daughter to 45 years for revealing these HEALTH SECRETS 😳👉
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri May 31 18:35:15 2024 UTC)
O'Neill, according to this September 24, 2019, public statement issued by the Health Care Complaints Commission of New South Wales, Australia, is an "unregistered practitioner" who "makes dubious and dangerous health claims regarding infant nutrition, causes and treatment of cancer, antibiotics, and vaccinations that are not evidence based or supported by mainstream medicine."
Hive Moderation, an AI-detection tool, assessed O'Neill's purported daughter in the image as 98.2 percent "likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content":
(Source: Hive Moderation screenshot taken on Fri May 31 18:40:15 2024 UTC)
A Google Lens search of the image resulted in similar digitally manipulated photos of a different woman pictured in an orange jumpsuit in a courtroom with superimposed text claiming this woman is O'Neill's daughter who is being sentenced for revealing health secrets.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on Google News, visible here, which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim. The post's text did not give the name of the woman or other details -- such as the location and date of the supposed trial and sentencing -- that would help narrow the search.
Lead Stories has previously disproven similar claims about images showing supposed family members of unregistered naturopathic practitioners being placed on trial or sentenced to prison.
On May 14, 2024, Lead Stories debunked the claim that an image of O'Neill's purported cousin in a courtroom on trial was authentic. Similar fact checks involving the late "Dr. Sebi," whose real name was Alfredo Bowman, can be read here.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims mentioning Barbara O'Neill can be read here.
