Is an image of British Union Jack flags crowding the Mall in London during a popular uprising of patriots in late August, 2025, authentic? No, that's not true: The image shared widely across social platforms is an odd digital representation of the Mall, which runs a half mile from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. This image shows the Arc de Triomphe in Paris at the end, rather than London's Admiralty Arch. Many of the flags are warped, as are some of the humans holding them. There are no reports of such a massive demonstration in London in the weeks before this image appeared online.
The image appeared in a post (archived here) shared by the @iAnonPatriot account on X on August 31, 2025. The caption above the image read:
Rooting for the patriots over in the UK... Take back YOUR country.
This is what the image in the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: screenshot of the image in @iAnonPatriot's post on X.com)
Another X post (archived here) used the fake image as a prediction of an even bigger turnout of protesters at a "Unite the Kingdom" rally on September 13:
13th September there will be 1 million people lining the streets of London supporting
@TRobinsonNewEra
and UNITE THE KINGDOM. We will make sure that we get all them eyes on $UTK this movement will not stop we will be supporting every step of the way. This is just the beginning.🇬🇧 RULE BRITANNIA 🇬🇧
(Source: screenshot of X.com by Lead Stories)
The flaws in this digital creation are obvious. First, look in the top middle where the flags converge on a building.
(Source: screenshot of X.com by Lead Stories)
A Google reverse image search (archived here) concluded that is the Arc de Triomphe, which is in Paris, France.
Other signs an image is AI-generated were identified by X users commenting on the image. This post (archived here) was captioned:
Just a few of the red flags that say 'hey. I'm not a real photo'
(Source: screenshot of X.com by Lead Stories)
Another X post (archived here) shared what appears to be a realistic image of the Mall filled with real people, real flags, and correct arch
(Source: screenshot of X.com by Lead Stories -- Photo by Aaron Chown)
That photo already appeared in New York Times reporting about Queen Elizabeth II's jubilee (archived here) in 2022.
