Original article (in Croatian) was published on 16/6/2025; Author: Anja Vladisavljević
The well-known climate activist and advocate for Palestinian rights is the subject of digital manipulation.
As the world closely followed the humanitarian mission of the vessel “Madleen” – which departed from Sicily aiming to deliver aid to the people of Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade – disinformation quickly spread online (1, 2).
One of the targets of this disinformation campaign was Greta Thunberg, the famous Swedish climate activist and one of 12 crew members on board. Thunberg has been vocal in her criticism of Israel, calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza.
According to some social media users, Thunberg was drinking cocktails on board the vessel while delivering “ten bags of flour” to Palestinians.
One Croatian Facebook post, published on June 6, 2025 (archived here), mockingly stated:
“Greta Thunberg drunk like a camel, sailing in a second-hand boat. She’s drinking her ninth turbo-alcoholic cocktail before delivering 10 bags of flour to Gaza (Palestine). If I had written the script for this morbid movie, it would’ve been much better.”
The post featured an image of Thunberg standing on a sailboat at sunset, wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh, holding a bright orange drink. She appears calm, not intoxicated – contrary to the claims of “nine cocktails”.
Obvious Signs of AI Manipulation
Besides the lack of any visible intoxication, there are numerous indicators that the image is artificially generated.
In the bottom right corner, the image contains the watermark “Grok”, the name of an AI model developed by X (formerly Twitter).
In addition, we identified a series of common inconsistencies typically found in images generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The hand holding the drink appears to have only four fingers, or possibly fused fingers – a common error in AI-generated visuals. The keffiyeh pattern is distorted and asymmetrical, lacking the clean, repeating motifs of an authentic scarf, that consists of three main elements: a fishnet pattern, bold lines, and olive leaves. The boat’s deck on which Thunberg stands resembles open water, indicating a mismatch between subject and background – another hallmark of AI-generated images.
To verify, the image was uploaded to Hive Moderation, an AI-content detection platform. It returned a 99.9% probability that the image was AI-generated or deepfake.
For more information on how to recognize AI-generated visuals and tools that help detect them, see this link.
What Happened to the “Madleen”?
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), an international non-profit, announced that one of its boats left the Italian port of Catania on June 1, 2025, heading toward Gaza with humanitarian aid. The mission aimed to challenge the Israeli blockade and deliver urgent supplies.
Since March 2025, Israel has blocked all humanitarian and medical aid into Gaza, causing catastrophic shortages. Starvation, lack of clean water, medical supplies, and fuel have devastated the population.
In April, Israel’s finance minister declared that “not a single grain of wheat” would enter Gaza. By mid-May, Israel allowed limited UN aid, but the UN called it a “drop in the ocean” of what’s needed by over 2 million people in the war-ravaged enclave.
The “Madleen” carried symbolic but vital aid, including: baby formula, flour, rice, diapers and women’s hygiene products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and prosthetics for children.
After nine days at sea, Israeli forces intercepted the boat near Gaza’s coast while it was reportedly still in international waters. According to Al Jazeera, Israel violated international maritime law by seizing the ship and later deported the activists, including Greta Thunberg.
In conclusion, the viral photo of Greta Thunberg allegedly drinking cocktails aboard a humanitarian boat is a digitally manipulated image created by artificial intelligence. It is part of a disinformation campaign aiming to discredit activists and downplay the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
