Unsure. I know that digital devices do not take pictures. They create images. During image creation, software removes redeye, noise, sharpens, enhances, adjusts, etc even before it’s delivered to your viewing screen.
It’s tempting to say ‘faked’ because I can see pixelation. But I know by now I can’t trust anything i didn’t see with my own eyes.
It is possible that all phones of a certain platform could be externally manipulated at the same time— just like they can be set to explode— code is code. But it’s all code. These images are code, not pictures. All digital images are code, and code can be fucked with.
So I categorize this as ‘interesting, noteworthy, but if I don’t see it myself, it didn’t happen.