Latest news with #fakefootage
CBS News
21 hours ago
- CBS News
AI-generated videos are fueling falsehoods about Iran-Israel conflict, researchers say
In recent days, videos generated by artificial intelligence have surfaced online purporting to show dramatic scenes from the Iran-Israel conflict, including an AI-generated woman reporting from a burning prison in Tehran and fake footage of high-rise buildings reduced to rubble in Tel Aviv. Other fabricated visuals depict a downed Israeli military aircraft. These clips, some which have racked up millions of views on platforms including X and TikTok, are the latest in a growing pattern of AI-generated videos that spread during major events. Screenshots taken by CBS News. CBS News Researchers at Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub told CBS News that some of the content is being amplified on X by a coordinated network of accounts promoting Iranian opposition messaging — with the goal of undermining confidence in the Iranian government. Fabricated videos On Monday, Israel carried out strikes on several sites in Iran, including the notorious Evin Prison. Within minutes of the attack, a video began circulating on X and other social media platforms showing an explosion at the entrance. The video is grainy, black-and-white and appears to be security camera footage. But several visual anomalies indicate the footage may have been created using artificial intelligence, experts say, including an incorrect sign above the door and inconsistencies with the explosion. Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-founder of AI detection startup GetReal Labs, told CBS News he believes the video may have been generated by an AI image-to-video tool. Farid said recent advancements in technology have helped lead to more realistic-looking videos with easier ways to create and share them quickly. "A year ago it was [that] you could make a single image that was pretty photo realistic," Farid said. "Now it's full blown video with explosions, with what looks like handheld mobile device imaging." The video had been posted on X within minutes of the June 23 Israeli attack on the facility by an account that "bears marks of being inauthentic," according to Media Forensics Hub researchers. Iranian and Israeli officials have not commented on the authenticity of the video. Darren Linvill, co-director of the Media Forensics Hub, told CBS News another video, which depicted an AI-generated reporter outside the prison, is the "perfect example" of a coordinated network using AI to circulate false information to wider audiences. "It isn't doing anything that one couldn't do with previous technology, it's just doing it all cheaper, faster, and at greater scale," Linvill said. It's not clear who is behind the videos, Linvill said. Social media platforms' responses When asked about the AI-generated Iran-Israel videos on their platform, a TikTok spokesperson told CBS News the platform does not allow harmful misinformation or AI-generated content of fakes authoritative sources or crisis events, and has removed some of these videos. A spokesperson for X referred CBS News to their Community Notes feature, and said some of the AI-generated video posts have had Community Notes added to help combat the false information. As for how to avoid falling prey to videos created with AI, Farid said, "Stop getting your news from social media, particularly on breaking events like this."
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Trump's evidence of South Africa ‘white genocide' contains images from DR Congo
The evidence of supposed mass killings of white South Africans presented by Donald Trump in a tense White House meeting on Wednesday were in some cases images from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other footage shown during the meeting was falsely portrayed as depicting 'burial sites'. 'These are all white farmers that are being buried,' said the US president, holding up a printout of an article accompanied by a picture during the contentious Oval Office meeting South African president Cyril Ramaphosa . The picture accompanying the article was in fact a screengrab of a video published by Reuters on February 3rd and subsequently verified by the news agency's fact check team, showing humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot after deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. READ MORE The White House did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. At another point in the meeting, Mr Trump played Mr Ramaphosa a video that he claimed proved genocide is being committed against white people in South Africa. Within it was footage that Mr Trump claimed showed the graves of more than a thousand white farmers, marked by white crosses. The footage – taken at a highway connecting the small towns of Newcastle and Normandein in South Africa – in fact showed a memorial site, and not graves. [ Debunking Trump's claims: Is there any evidence of white genocide in South Africa? Opens in new window ] Rob Hoatson, who set up the memorial to capture public attention, told the BBC it was not a burial site. 'It was a memorial. It was not a permanent memorial that was erected. It was a temporary memorial,' he said. The memorial was set up in the aftermath of a murder of two Afrikaner farmers in the local community. The video played by Mr Trump on Wednesday contained several falsehoods and inaccuracies, but was intended to back the president's offer of 'refuge' to persecuted white farmers, which has angered the South African government which disputes the allegations. The White House claimed it showed evidence of genocide of white farmers in South Africa. This conspiracy theory, which has circulated among the far-right for years, is based on false claims. [ South African reaction to Trump-Ramaphosa meeting: 'It was always going to be tough' Opens in new window ] The video prominently featured Julius Malema, a firebrand politician known for his radical rhetoric. He was seen in several clips wearing the red beret of his populist, Marxist-inspired Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party and chanting calls to 'cut the throat of whiteness' as well as a controversial anti-apartheid song 'Kill the Boer, kill the farmer'. Mr Trump falsely said he was a government official, insinuating his inflammatory slogans reflected an official policy against South Africa's white minority. Mr Malema is an opposition politician who gained prominence advocating radical reforms including land redistribution and nationalising key economic sectors. The party only came fourth in last year's elections, with 9.5 per cent of the vote. During the Oval Office meeting, Mr Ramaphosa and his delegation distanced themselves from Mr Malema's rhetoric. Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen, a member of the centre-right Democratic Alliance, told Mr Trump he joined Mr Ramaphosa's multiparty coalition 'precisely to keep these people out of power'. Mr Ramaphosa visited Washington this week to try to mend ties with the United States after persistent criticism from Mr Trump in recent months over South Africa's land laws, foreign policy, and alleged bad treatment of its white minority, which South Africa denies. – Guardian
