The accompanying 24-second video depicts laser beams shooting down swarms of drones and trapping them in glowing energy nets — with text overlay at the bottom saying\u00a0“counter-drone technology”.<\/p>\n
Similar posts<\/a> that misrepresented the visual as genuine spread in multiple languages<\/a> on X<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, Threads<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>, receiving over five\u00a0 million views combined.<\/p>\n Screenshot of false Weibo post taken on August 26, 2026, with a red X and an AI symbol added by AFP<\/p>\n Experts say the surge of\u00a0 drone use<\/a> in conflicts worldwide — seen most vividly in the Ukraine and Middle East wars — accelerates the race to develop high-power laser systems that could down the devices far more cheaply than traditional defensive weapons ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n It is a critical issue for governments threatened by low-cost, easily obtainable drones that can wreak outsize destruction, and are usually shot down only by the most advanced — and expensive — missile technologies.<\/p>\n China dominates the global anti-drone patent landscape, according to a March 2026\u00a0 study<\/a> from UK-based intellectual property law firm Mathys and Squire ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Comments to the circulating posts indicate many social media users believed the video was genuine.<\/p>\n “So cool! This can defeat the United States and dominate the world!” one user said, while another wrote: “China is always 10 years behind in technology versus the United States”.<\/p>\n However, the clip is AI-generated.<\/p>\n A keyword search<\/a> for “counter-drone technology” on Douyin surfaced the original video published<\/a> on March 22, with a caption that reads: “Drones Are No Longer Invincible: These Technologies Are Changing the Rules” ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The video was labelled as AI-generated — and a similar disclaimer in tiny text is visible in the higher-quality version of the footage.<\/p>\n Screenshot comparison of false Weibo post (L) and original Douyin video with the AI label highlighted<\/p>\n The Douyin user<\/a> — whose name “Battlefield Imagination Bureau” is also overlaid on the clip —\u00a0regularly posts AI-generated videos featuring military equipment ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n AFP reached out for comment to the user, who has over 27,000 followers and is registered in China’s Jiangsu province,\u00a0but a response was not forthcoming.<\/p>\n Moreover, the video contains visual inconsistencies, including laser beams bending and curving in mid-air, and the depicted drones constantly becoming distorted.<\/p>\n Screenshots of the false Weibo post, with visual inconsistencies highlighted and AI labels added by AFP<\/p>\n An analysis by the Hive Moderation<\/a> detection tool also found the video was likely to contain AI-generated content ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Screenshot of the Hive Moderation analysis taken August 25, 2026, with an AI label added by AFP<\/p>\n![\"<span>Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/afp_factcheck_us_713\/97597cfa6bdbd65e61f4a01bf6fbeed2.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"<span>Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/afp_factcheck_us_713\/bcdfccb4a018cf7792ba476d47f2e82f.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"<span>Screenshots](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/afp_factcheck_us_713\/059d785198289efbfca30fd2955b2638.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"<span>Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/afp_factcheck_us_713\/402f8c6350783f76d96d6dd4f6ab4467.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n