On March 31, Facebook user Georgian– and Russian-language Facebook accounts (1, 2) published a photo showing a burger box from the American fast food chain McDonald’s with the inscription “Baphomet” and a small image of Baphomet on its side. The circulated photo gives the impression that McDonald’s has a burger series called “Baphomet.”
The Georgian-language Facebook account also shares a video collage, which is assembled with photos of similar visuals.
The claim that McDonald’s launched the “Baphomet” series of burgers is false. The fast food chain has no similar burgers and toys, and the photos are created by artificial intelligence (AI).
The circulated photo shows the McDonald’s burger box with the inscription “Baphomet.” Baphomet is a fictional idol or deity. At first, members of the Knights Templar were accused of worshiping him, but he was later picked up by various occult and mystical writers. Baphomet is first mentioned in a letter of the 11th century in the context of the siege of Antioch during the crusade.
By observing the photo, it was determined that it was generated by artificial intelligence (AI). For example, if one side of the burger box has the inscription “Baphomet”, the burger and the McDonald’s logo, the logo is incomplete on the left side of the box, the burger is different and the word Baphomet is left out. In addition, on the front of the box, the word “m” in Baphomet is misspelled and looks uneven.
No such burger can be found on the official website of McDonald’s. The information about such burgers cannot be found in open sources, nor is it reported by reliable media.
The photo was also verified by the American fact-checking portal, Snopes.
False and misleading claims related to McDonald’s have been in the past as well. For more details, see the articles prepared by “Myth Detector:”
- MANIPULATION, AS IF MCDONALD’S CONTINUES TO WORK IN RUSSIA UNDER THE RUSSIAN BRAND (in Georgian)
- DISINFORMATION AS IF MACDONALD’S USES HUMAN MEAT IN THEIR PRODUCTS
- DISINFORMATION, AS IF TEMUR CHKHONIA WAS NAMED BUSINESSMAN OF THE YEAR IN RUSSIA (in Georgian)
About the Source
The Facebook account Maia Tvaltvadze regularly publishes posts with anti-Western, anti-vax content, as well as conspiracy theories. “Myth Detector” has fact-checked the false information spread by Tvaltvadze many times in the past.
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