A video that supposedly shows a drone display in Funchal, on the island of Madeira, paying tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo’s announced farewell from FIFA World Cups has amassed thousands of views and shares - but it was generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
Claim: "Madeira said goodbye to Cristiano Ronaldo with a drone show, after the last World Cup match of his career"
In recent hours, a video has been circulating that allegedly shows that "Madeira said goodbye to Cristiano Ronaldo with a drone show, after the last World Cup match of his career".
The footage shows a stylised CR7 figure performing his familiar vertical jump followed by a half-turn, beneath a national flag and the message "thank you, 7" - all supposedly formed by drones using red, green and white lights.
This version appears to originate from a post that has already reached more than 4.3 million views, describing it as a "drone farewell to Cristiano Ronaldo in his hometown, in Madeira, after he played his last match for Portugal against Spain at the World Cup".
Facts: the video is fake and was generated by artificial intelligence
A straightforward look at the images is enough to see they are not genuine and were created with AI. One of the clearest signs is the mismatch between the supposed drone show and what would be being recorded on the mobile phones of two spectators: those screens show different details and are also out of sync with the display.
There are also no news reports about any such event in the media or on the pages of the regional authorities. Using reverse searches, it is possible to identify the creator - specifically the Seihan AIfilms account on Instagram and TikTok - where the images have already exceeded 22 million views.
On both platforms, the author explicitly states that the visuals were generated with AI using the PixVerse app, and says he is willing to share the "prompt" (the instructions used to create the video) with anyone who comments "CR7".
Responding to Lusa, the video’s creator - a young Peruvian - makes it clear that he is "an AI content creator and that this video is marked as created with AI". He adds that responsibility for presenting the images as real lies with "the people who share this as if it were true".
Beyond social media, the video has also been circulated as authentic by international media outlets that carried out no fact-checking.
Lusa Verifica also asked Funchal City Council whether it was aware of the video or of any recent event similar to the one depicted, but received no response.
However, in a reply to "Notícias ao Minuto", a source from the Regional Government of Madeira confirmed "that it is AI-generated content, and it did not happen".
Lusa Verifica rating: False
The video claiming to show a drone spectacle in Funchal, on the island of Madeira, in tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo’s last World Cup match is clearly false.
The images - which have been shared thousands of times and viewed millions of times on social media and in some media outlets - were generated using an AI tool, as the creator himself acknowledges.
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