It may still be too early for some, but Halloween is over, Christmas is officially upon us, and so is a wave of misinformation about the holiday season.
A photo circulating online and shared on social media in multiple European languages purports to show a small Christmas market in Germany surrounded by police, vehicles and fences.
The captions accompanying the photos lament the current state of Europe’s Christmas markets, which have to be heavily guarded against terrorist attacks, while others baselessly criticize immigration and “diversity.”
However, this image is clearly generated by AI, and when you zoom in on people’s faces and text such as car license plates, you can see that they are blurred and distorted.
Moreover, in the bottom right corner of the photo, the logo of Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, is just visible, proving that it was artificially created.
The people who shared the photos appear to be trying to stir up fear in the wake of past attacks on German Christmas markets, such as the 2016 Berlin attack and last year’s Magdeburg attack.
In the former, terrorists drove a truck into a market, killing 12 people and injuring more than 50. In the latter, a man drove an SUV into a crowd, killing six people and injuring more than 300.
The incident has also given rise to other misleading market-related statements, most notably false claims that Germany is canceling all Christmas markets due to immigration and terrorism concerns.
This can be easily verified by visiting the website of the tourist office of the city where Germany’s most iconic markets are held.
For example, the city of Cologne whose christmas market The festival, which welcomes around 4 million people a year, is clearly still ready to celebrate its festivities starting in mid-November.
The same goes for Frankfurt. clearly shows Date the market opens.
Indeed, both cities contacted by The Cube have confirmed that they will also hold Christmas markets.
Unfortunately, some Christmas markets in Germany will indeed be closed this year, but not because of concerns about possible terrorist attacks.
Visitors to the popular market at Dortmund’s Bodelschwinf Castle will have to wait until 2027 to celebrate: According to the websitethe castle is under restoration.
Elsewhere, market operators in Lahrstedt cited declining profits as the reason for canceling the market, as vendors were not able to make enough profit to justify holding the market again.
Despite the news that some smaller markets will be closed for various reasons, the majority of markets in Germany will continue to proceed with comprehensive, reasonable and in some cases enhanced safety measures. This includes installing concrete fencing, hiring additional security personnel, and implementing bag checks.
