AI-generated videos of 'destruction in Tel Aviv' falsely linked to Israel-Iran conflict
"This is not AI, this is the real Tel Aviv airport," reads the Thai-language caption of a video purportedly showing a heavily damaged airport shared on Facebook on June 15, 2025.
It goes on to say users can verify the clip's authenticity using AI chatbots such as Grok -- a technique that has proven unreliable (archived link).
Arabic-language text in the video's top-right corner says, "Tel Aviv".
A similar video, purportedly showing damaged and crumbling buildings, shared on Instagram by a Pakistan-based user on June 14 is captioned: "A glimpse of Tel Aviv, the Zionist war-mongers' capital."
Image
Screenshots of the false Facebook post (left) and the false Instagram post (right), captured on June 16, 2025
The posts emerged after Israel struck Iranian nuclear and military facilities with a barrage of missiles on June 13, killing several top officials and prompting a counter-attack by Iran (archived here and here).
Israel said the attacks aimed to prevent its arch-rival from acquiring atomic weapons -- a charge Tehran denies.
The longtime foes have continued trading deadly fire in their most intense confrontation in history, fuelling fears of a drawn-out conflict that could engulf the Middle East (archived link).
Iran's health ministry said at least 224 people have been killed and more than 1,200 wounded, while Israel's prime minister's office says at least 24 people have been killed and 592 others injured.
The the damage inflicted on Israel were also shared in similar posts on Facebook, Instagram and X.
While barrages of missiles and drones from Iran have hit Israeli cities and towns, the circulating videos do not depict the damage caused by the strikes.
AI-generated content
A reverse image search using keyframes from the falsely shared videos led to the same clips posted on a TikTok account that produces AI-generated content (archived link).
The user did not respond to AFP's enquiries about the videos.
The clip misrepresented as showing "Tel Aviv airport" was posted by the account on May 27 -- before Israel launched its surprise aerial campaign (archived link).
While Israel has closed its airspace, keyword searches found no official reports of its main international airport being badly damaged by the fighting (archived link).
A comparison of the falsely circulating video with of the airport near Tel Aviv also shows their layouts and surrounding landscapes do not match (archived link).
Image
Screenshot comparison between the falsely shared video (left and centre) and Google Maps imagery of Ben Gurion International Airport (right)
The video purportedly showing the damage caused to buildings in Tel Aviv was shared by the same TikTok account on June 14, with the hashtag "South Lebanon" (archived link).
Image
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the TikTok video (right)
A closer analysis of the video also shows that some of the vehicles driving around the damaged buildings and rubble appear to phase in and pass through one another.
Image
Screenshots showing examples in the falsely shared video of vehicles appearing to pass through others
Although generative AI technology is improving rapidly, visual inconsistencies persist and are the best way to identify fabricated content.
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Israel-Iran conflict here.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
18 minutes ago
- France 24
Male victim breaks 'suffocating' silence on Kosovo war rapes
The father-of-three was raped by a Serbian policeman during the bloody conflict between Albanian guerillas and Serbian armed forces in 1998 and 1999 that eventually saw Kosovo break away from Belgrade. Officials estimate Serbian forces raped up to 20,000 women during the war in which 13,000 people -- mostly ethnic Albanian civilians -- died. Human Rights Watch said Albanian fighters also raped Serbian, Albanian and Roma women in a 2000 report documenting widespread abuse by the combatants. But the precise number is buried by "a deeply entrenched social stigma, which still overshadows wartime rapes", said Bekim Blakaj of Kosovo's Humanitarian Law Center. Nishori told AFP that he hopes his own "difficult" journey -- which at times left him suicidal -- will help others find the strength to cast a light into the darkest corners of the war's atrocities. The 48-year-old said he would not have been able to come forward without his family's support. "It has given me strength. It has played a very, very big role," he said. 'I walked and cried at night' But he knows that the war, which only ended when NATO bombed the Serbian forces into submission, has left many more struggling alone. "I was suffocating. I would leave the house at night. I would feel like screaming. I would walk and cry," he told AFP. The Kosovo government acknowledged the suffering of the victims of wartime rapes by paying them a pension of 270 euros ($313) a month. But 11 years after it was set up, only a few hundred women get the payment. Nishori will be the first man to receive it. Activists say many survivors will never come forward due to the shame attached to rape in Albanian society. "Rape is perceived by our society more as a violation of family honour," said Veprore Shehu from Medica Kosova, which has given psychological support to some 600 female survivors. Nishori's nightmare began when he was pulled from a refugee column in September 1998. He was taken for interrogation to a police station in Drenas -- about 23 kilometres (14 miles) west of Pristina. "When it was my turn to be interrogated, around midnight, two policemen took me to the toilet, where one of them raped me," he said, taking deep breaths as he slowly recounted his ordeal. "When another policeman wanted to do the same, a third policeman came, and perhaps because of my screams, snatched me away from them and returned me to a cell." 'Weapon of war' Blakaj said the vast majority of sexual abuse was perpetrated by Serbian forces on ethnic Albanian women. By the end of the conflict, it had become "a weapon of war" used to create terror among civilians, he said. "Rape by police, paramilitaries and armed forces became widespread and almost routine," a 2017 Amnesty International report into the war concluded. A Serbian army deserter quoted in the report described sexual violence as "normal like taking a shower and having breakfast". On Tuesday, a Pristina court sentenced a Kosovo Serb to 15 years prison for rape during the conflict after a closed trial. It is just the second prosecution for rape during the Kosovo war, a mark of how slow the road to justice has been for victims of crimes now decades old. When Nishori finally revealed his abuse to his family, his oldest daughter, Flutura, urged him to go public. "Dad's story needed to be revealed to show that it wasn't just women who were victims of sexual violence, but men too," the 23-year-old theatre student said. "Nothing has changed in the family since the secret was revealed," she told AFP.
Euronews
21 minutes ago
- Euronews
EU Parliament to criminalising AI-generated child abuse material
The European Parliament voted on Tuesday overwhelmingly in favour of a directive that would criminalise the creation, possession and sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) generated using artificial intelligence. The text also covers offences related to grooming, sextortion, and livestreamed abuse, while addressing legal definitions and age of consent issues across the EU. The vote passed with 599 in favour, just two against, and 62 abstentions - an unusually broad consensus from the entire political spectrum for such a sensitive file. 'It will be treated in exactly the same as if it were real child abuse material,' Jeroen Lenaers (Netherlands/European People's Party), the lawmaker leading the file, told Euronews. 'Because we know that these models, first of all, they need to train on real child sexual abuse material and secondly, we see that using AI child sexual use material is a very small step to actually moving on to real child sexual abuse.' Recent research by Helsinki-based non-profit Protect Children highlights a link between viewing abusive content and committing contact offences against children, even if a direct causal link has not been proven. According to the study, 52% of respondents said they feared viewing such material could lead them to commit abuse. Meanwhile, 44% said it made them consider seeking contact with a minor, and 37% admitted to having acted on those thoughts. Lenaers told Euronews that AI-generated child abuse material has increased by over 1,000% in the past year alone. The Parliament's position was welcomed by both tech industry players and child protection advocates. In a joint statement, DotEurope, a Brussels based tech lobby group representing among others OpenAI, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta - and Eclag (European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group) said: 'We are happy to be joining forces for the first time to tackle the danger posed by AI for child sexual abuse at EU level. Hopefully, we can continue to find ways to work together to make online child sexual abuse history.' However, Tuesday's vote is not the final step. Negotiations will now begin between the Parliament, the Council of the EU, which represents national governments, and the European Commission. These 'trilogue' talks will determine the final shape of the law. The Council adopted its own position in December, but stopped short of including the criminalisation of AI-generated child abuse material — prompting strong calls from MEPs, industry and advocacy groups for ministers to align with Parliament. Age of consent also proved divisive during the Council's negotiations. A coalition of seven countries - Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Sweden - issued a joint statement warning that, while children who reach the age of sexual consent may legally agree to sexual acts, they remain especially vulnerable and need strong legal protection. The proposed directive goes beyond AI imagery. It introduces a shared legal framework across the EU to combat online child abuse, with clear definitions of 'grooming' and 'sextortion' as crimes. It also seeks to outlaw the livestreaming of abusive acts, lift time limits for reporting sexual abuse, recognising that many victims come forward only years later, and ban so-called 'paedophile handbooks', which provide instructions on how to manipulate children and evade detection. During the plenary debate, Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner called for ambition and unity: 'We cannot be ambitious enough. There is no more important priority than protecting our children.'
AFP
2 hours ago
- AFP
Video shows militants abducting Malian soldiers, not Nigerian troops
'Sorosoke!!! Shocking clip of some bandits boldly loading men of the Nigerian army on bikes after raiding their camp,' reads the caption of an Instagram post circulating in Nigeria since June 7, 2025. The term 'bandits' in Nigeria refers to organised criminal gangs. Image Screenshot showing the false post, taken June 16, 2025 'Sorosoke' is a Yoruba expression meaning 'speak up'. It became a popular slogan during Nigeria's 2020 protests against police brutality (archived here). Liked more than 2,000 times, the video shows men in military uniform being forced onto motorcycles by gunmen wearing turbans. Comments below the post questioned the identity of the captured soldiers. 'This is chad army not Nigerian army (sic),' wrote one user, while another said the incident happened in 'Burkina Faso, that's where you can get those types of bikes'. The video was published by an account called 'Sorosoke Gossip' which posts lifestyle content and general news about Nigeria. However, the video does not show Nigerian soldiers being abducted by bandits. Clip from Mali At the 0'54' mark in the one-minute clip, AFP Fact Check noticed a Malian military patch stitched to the sleeve of one of the abducted soldiers. The visible part of the logo reads 'FAMa', an acronym for Forces Armees Maliennes, or the Malian army. Image Comparison of the Malian armed forces logo as it appeared in an AFP photo (left) and on the sleeve of an abducted soldier in the video Using Google Lens to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video, we were led to a June 8, 2025, X post by Brant Philip, a terrorism researcher focusing on West Africa and the Middle East. In it, he described how the Al-Qaeda-backed Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) fighters killed scores of Malian soldiers in the Boulkessi military camp near the Burkina Faso border on June 1, 2025. AFP had reported on the incident, saying the Malian army said it lost at least 30 soldiers but security sources and a local official said they believed the death toll to be at least 60 (archived here). One of the videos in Philip's posts shows 30 seconds of the clip in the false post, with the media logo of the JNIM at the top right corner (archived here). JNIM then displays the loot and the prisoners captured, 8 days later their fate is still unknown, JNIM could keep them for a prisoner swap in the future 5/5 — Brant (@brantphilip1978) June 8, 2025 Nigerian army spokesperson Onyechi Anele also told AFP Fact Check that the video in the claim 'does not involve Nigerian troops'.
