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Library/Meme & format/Balenciaga Pope
Grade B22 sourcesHIS-00665

Balenciaga Pope

Meme & format · 2023 · Niche

34Editable slideCertificate

An AI-generated pope in a puffer coat drew 28.1 million views on one Twitter repost.

Pope-annotated-main-image
TIME
We Spoke To The Guy Who Created The Viral AI Image Of The Pope That Fooled The World
BuzzFeed News
Fake photos of Pope Francis in a puffer jacket go viral, highlighting the power and peril of AI
CBS News
Pope Francis calls for global treaty to regulate artificial intelligence: "We risk falling into the spiral of a technological dictatorship"
Associated Press / CBS News
PODCAST: AI, God and Ethics | NUPI
NUPI
Pope Francis is first pope to address G7 summit, meets with Biden, world leaders
CBS News / Associated Press
Pope in White Puffer Jacket / Pope Francis Drip | Know Your Meme
Know Your Meme
Viral pictures of Pope Francis wearing puffer jacket are AI-generated – Full Fact
Full Fact
What the pope’s Balenciaga puffer jacket says about AI and misinformation - Poynter
Poynter
From Balenciaga Pope to the Great Cascadia Earthquake, AI images are creating a new reality | TechCrunch
TechCrunch
Pope Francis - Wikipedia
Wikipedia

Spread Score

How it works
Reach41ContagionNo data yetBreadth40Velocity40Longevity834

Numbers

Peak date
Week of Mar 25, 2023
Mar 24 ’23 to Week of Mar 25, 2023
Platforms
7
Started on Reddit
Origin
Organic
Culture (no sector)

Mechanics

  • Response chain
  • Maker origin
  • Controversy
  • Platform jumpPrimary
  • Press loop

How it spread

Trace the origin

Repost framing varied: Pop Tingz explicitly labelled the picture AI-generated, while Teigen admitted believing it and continued questioning its reality. AFP then obtained a direct Vatican photographic-service denial. Captions and replies carried different provenance claims.

Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.

Google searchesMar ’23AprJunAugOctDecFeb ’24AprJunJulPeakRedditXOpen webPressTVFacebookAudio
RedditXOpen webPressTVFacebookAudio

16 more events on this chart

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Timeline (19)

  1. March 2023

    u/trippy_art_special seed · Mar 24 ’23

    Pablo Xavier posted AI-generated images of Pope Francis in a white puffer coat to r/midjourney.[1][2][3]

    Open the first post ↗

  2. @skyferrori platform jump · Mar 25 ’23

    @skyferrori reposted the puffer-coat image to Twitter.[2][4]

    Pope in White Puffer Jacket / Pope Francis Drip | Know Your Meme

  3. Internet users peak · Week of Mar 25, 2023

    The image spread across social networks over the weekend and prompted debunking coverage.[5][6][7]

Origin
Organic
Sector
Culture (no sector)
Region
US
Reported figure
—
Evidence
Grade B

Spread the same way

Nobody Wants This

Open web · 2024

62
Nobody Wants This | Official Trailer | Netflix

Peaked at #1

Jesse Williams' BET Awards Speech

TV · 2016

51
Jesse Williams spoke to Entertainment Tonight at the BET Awards in Los Angeles.

3M views

Salt Bae

Instagram · 2017

49
Nusr_et#Saltbae on Instagram: "Ottoman steak 🔪"

I Love You, Colonel Sanders!

Open web · 2019

48
Official Steam screenshot of the Colonel Sanders dating simulator.

1B impressions

New cases, every week

How the next thing spread, the week it does.

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Google searchesMar ’23AprJunAugOctDecFeb ’24AprJunJulPeakRedditXOpen webPressTVFacebookAudio
RedditXOpen webPressTVFacebookAudio

16 more events on this chart

Join free to see them

  1. March 2023

    u/trippy_art_special seed · Mar 24 ’23

    Pablo Xavier posted AI-generated images of Pope Francis in a white puffer coat to r/midjourney.[1][2][3]

    Open the first post ↗

  2. @skyferrori platform jump · Mar 25 ’23

    @skyferrori reposted the puffer-coat image to Twitter.[2][4]

    Pope in White Puffer Jacket / Pope Francis Drip | Know Your Meme

  3. Internet users peak · Week of Mar 25, 2023

    The image spread across social networks over the weekend and prompted debunking coverage.[5][6][7]

  1. platform jump · Mar 25 ’23

  2. owner response · Mar 26 ’23

Join free to see the other 16 events and the full chart. Free, on every case.

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Why it worked

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