Fact Check: Photo Purportedly Shows Quadruplet Sisters Posing on Their 90th Birthday. Here's the Truth

Claim:

An image authentically shows quadruplet sisters posing with a cake on their 90th birthday.

Rating:

On May 30, 2024, a Facebook page posted a photo claiming to show four elderly women posing with a birthday cake. According to the post's caption, the women were quadruplets celebrating their 90th birthday. The caption read, "We are quadruplets, today we turned 90, we are waiting for congratulations from you."

As of June 3, the post had received more than 312,000 reactions, 92,000 comments and 15,000 shares. Many commenters wrote congratulatory messages, suggesting they believed the image depicted a real scene.

However, the truth was this: An unidentified user utilized one or more artificial-intelligence tools to create the image. Mostly based in Armenia, the Facebook page, Life is Wonderful, has a history of sharing AI-generated photos without disclaimers to note their inauthenticity.

In other words, the image showing the women, cake and room was fake.

Commenters Who Believed the Photo Was Real

Tens of thousands of comments congratulated the purported quadruplets, even though they were not real.

Looking at a popular Facebook post, users have the ability to categorize comments by "most relevant," which Facebook defines as "friends' comments and the most engaging comments first"; "newest," which shows the newest comments first; and "all comments," which displays all comments, including spam, with the "most relevant" comments appearing first.

Analyzing comments categorized as "most relevant" on the post containing the image, Snopes saw the message, "What a wonderful event! May God continue to bless each of you."

Facebook displays the "most relevant" comments to users by default.

A different person said, "Happy Birthday's [sic] Congratulations to everyone. God Bless you all for many more wonderful years."

Another user remarked, "Happy Birthday to quadruplets have a wonderful birthday today!! Each one of you just looks fabulous!! God Bless you!"

Each of those comments received numerous likes.

Commenters Who Were More Suspicious

Switching the display from "most relevant" to "all comments" displayed messages questioning the image's legitimacy.

For instance, when Snopes switched to "all comments," the top message read, "This is AI."

Another person pointed out what they believed to be one or more strange AI-created hands belonging to the woman sitting (left). Telltale signs of an AI-generated image of a person often include their mouths, hands, extra fingers, faces in the background and other elements. The Facebook user wrote, "The blue shirt right hand makes me pretty sure this is AI."

Signs of potential AI trickery in images sometimes include strange hands and extra fingers.

Similar AI-Created Images of Quadruplets

The Life Is Wonderful Facebook page has shared many popular AI-generated images of triplets and quadruplets. For example, a post on May 27, 2024, featured an AI-generated photo supposedly showing a group of 88-year-old quadruplets. That post had received 152,000 reactions.

A different post on May 29, 2024, with a fake image supposedly honored the birthday of another group of 88-year-old quadruplets. That post received more than 94,000 reactions.

On May 30, 2024, the Facebook page posted another AI-created image with a similar caption about 90-year-old quadruplets. That post received more than 93,000 reactions.

The Facebook page also published a post on May 31, 2024, featuring a fake image has received more than 208,000 reactions. Its caption read, "We are quadruplets, today we turned 83, we are waiting for congratulations from you."

The Life Is Wonderful Facebook page was one of many pages posting AI-generated images in 2024. Such posts are seemingly believed widely by users who like, comment on and share the content. The images featured in this article are only a very small percentage of the AI-created images on Facebook — many of which onlookers believe to be authentic photos.

Like-Farming Posts

The Life Is Wonderful Facebook page's motivation for posting such content was unknown. Snopes reached out to its managers to ask about the posts but did not receive a response prior to publishing. (We will update this story if the page managers answer our questions.)

In some cases, Facebook pages post heartwarming or compelling content as part of a strategy known as like-farming. A post might begin with captivating content — for example, an image purportedly showing four quadruplets celebrating their 90th birthday — and then turn into a scam once the post has earned loads of positive likes, comments and shares.

The Better Business Bureau once explained how this strategy works:

In other words, once a post gains popularity, a creator may edit it to add links to suspicious sites in the caption. Then, as the post continues spreading, new onlookers may click the scammy links that could download malware to their devices or ask them for personal information. (Users who previously liked, commented on or shared the post will not be scammed simply for only taking one or more of those three past actions.)

For further reading, we recommend our article offering four tips for spotting AI-generated pictures.

Sources:

Arntz, Pieter. "Explained: Like-Farming | Malwarebytes Labs." Malwarebytes, 17 Apr. 2019, https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2019/04/explained-like-farming/.

"BBB Tip: Like-Farming Is a Facebook Scam Still Going Strong." Better Business Bureau, 10 June 2020, https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/17149-like-farming-a-facebook-scam-still-going-strong.

Emery, David, and Jessica Lee. "4 Tips for Spotting AI-Generated Pics." Snopes, 16 Apr. 2023, https://www.snopes.com//articles/464595/artificial-intelligence-media-literacy/.

"What Most Relevant Means on a Facebook Page Post." Facebook Help Center, https://www.facebook.com/help/539680519386145.