Viral AI-generated video shows people crying on streets in Venezuelapublished at 13:01 GMT
13:01 GMT
Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC Verify senior journalist
We previously looked at a number of misleading videos claiming to show mass celebrations inside Venezuela following the US seizure of President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. As we’ve explained, the footage was either old or taken in places like Florida or Panama City.
But we’ve also seen a number of AI-generated videos used for the same purpose – to falsely claim there have been large celebrations inside Venezuela over Maduro’s deposition – that have been widely shared online.
One video shared by Elon Musk, which has been viewed more than five million times on his platform X, features close ups of four apparent Venezuelans crying and thanking President Donald Trump while people celebrate and wave flags in the background.
We noticed multiple anomalies in the video, including unnatural movements and skin tones, wrong flag patterns, an odd car number plate and out of place side mirror, and disappearing objects. The same video gained two million views on TikTok before being removed.
Professor Hany Farid from the cybersecurity firm GetReal Security told us that there are enough anomalies consistent with AI generation in the video to cast significant doubt on its authenticity.
Jacobo Castellanos, an AI expert at human rights organisation Witness, added: “Through our regional experts we have confirmation this is not what it has looked like on the ground since Maduro’s incarceration,” and said there have instead been the prevalence of armed groups in the streets.