Image of red Niagara Falls is fake
The picture of a red Niagara Falls spread in additional widely viewed Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X posts.
The caption of many of the Facebook posts imitates the style of a copy-pasted news report -- a strategy adopted by many after Meta blocked the sharing of news links for Canadians on its platforms (archived here).
However, many of the elements in the text appear to be completely contrived.
For example, the caption references a hydrologist, "Dr. Rebecca Thompson," but keyword searches do not reveal anyone with that name practicing that profession. Beyond the social media posts, AFP could not find versions of the text in credible news sources.
Furthermore, Niagara Falls Tourism told AFP the image was "completely false" and commented that it was likely generated by artificial intelligence.
"The Falls don't change to those colors," said a spokesman for the tourism board in a July 2 email. "It will sometimes be brown when we experience heavy rains, but not red."
Archived images of Niagara Falls from June 22 shared by the photography network EarthCam do not include any pictures of the waters at the site turning red as seen in the misleading social media posts (archived here).
While some commenters on the posts appeared to believe the image was real, many users claiming to live nearby wrote that the waters did not change color.
Light shows are a regular feature at Niagara Falls but the official schedule says they are only turned on at night, while the false posts claimed the image was captured in the early morning. The red from the lights do not match the appearance of the social media image where the full river supposedly turned red (archived here).
AFP previously fact-checked images of Canadian tourist attractions in seemingly extraordinary circumstances, including Niagara Falls.
Read more of AFP's reporting of misinformation in Canada here.
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