Naval exercise footage shot in US, not Taiwan
The footage, showing aerial shots of troops disembarking from a ship on a beach, has racked up more than one million views.
"Let's pray for our fellow Filipinos working in Taiwan," says a narrator, adding the US Navy landed in Taiwan amid heightened tensions with China.
Image
Screenshot of the false post taken on August 10, 2025, with the red X mark added by AFP
The video has also been reshared on TikTok by Filipino users worried about potential conflict in their nearest northern neighbour.
Communist China has never ruled Taiwan but Beijing insists the island is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control (archived link).
While the United States is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan -- which Beijing opposes -- Washington has long maintained when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend it from a Chinese attack (archived link).
According to retired US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery in a May 15 Congressional hearing, there are about 500 US military trainers in Taiwan (archived link).
However, the circulating video shows clips from a military exercise on the eastern coast of the United States.
Google reverse image searches found the visuals originally published on the US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) on July 1, 2025 (archived link).
The DVIDS caption says they depict an amphibious landing during the Atlantic Alliance exercise in Virginia on June 30, 2025.
The Atlantic Alliance exercise is conducted "along the eastern seaboard of the United States" by the US Fleet Forces Command and US Marine Forces Command, it adds.
Clips from the 10-minute video have been mirrored and repurposed in the false posts.
The video of troops landing on the beach corresponds to the 2:42 mark of the DVIDS video.
Image
Screenshot comparison of the false video (L) and the US DVIDS video
At the 5:30 mark, the same military vehicle is seen disembarking the ship.
Image
Screenshot comparison of the false video (L) and the US DVIDS video
Finally, the aerial video of a huge ship docking on the beach to bring in more military men matches the 6:23 mark of the DVIDS video.
Image
Screenshot comparison of the false video (L) and the US DVIDS video
The video compilation also appeared on the US Central Command's official website on June 30, 2025 (archived link).
AFP has fact-checked other misinformation related to Taiwan here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AFP
11 minutes ago
- AFP
Video of crowds cheering on Israel's soldiers is AI-generated
"Israeli soldiers are marching from their country to complete the military occupation of Gaza, while Israeli citizens are welcoming, praising, and supporting them," reads the Burmese-language caption of a Facebook video shared on August 12, 2025. The eight-second clip, which was viewed more than 65,000 times, appears to show crowds waving Israeli flags and cheering on soldiers and military vehicles. Image Screenshot of false Facebook post captured on August 14, 2025, with a red X added by AFP The video was on Facebook, after Israel announced a new plan for its military to "take control" of Gaza City, triggering a wave of criticism from both inside and outside the country (archived link). More than 22 months into the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the country is gripped by a yawning divide pitting those demanding an end to the conflict and a deal for the release of the hostages against others who want to see the Palestinian militants vanquished once and for all. Hamas's attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Out of 251 hostages captured during the attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the military says are dead. Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,722 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable. The video, however, was generated by AI. Made with Veo A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same clip posted on TikTok on July 31, where its Indonesian-language reads: "Hundreds of Israeli military are ready to take revenge against Iranian attack." But the search engine's "About this image" feature indicates the video was generated with Google AI. A Google spokesperson told AFP that when a SynthID watermark is detected, it indicates that "the image has been generated or modified with AI". SynthID is an image identification tool launched in 2023 by Google's DeepMind AI lab, which detects digital watermarks contained in images generated with Google AI (archived here and here). Both videos are also superimposed with the same watermarks -- the name of the TikTok account across the middle of the video, and the word "Veo" in the bottom-right corner. Veo is Google's video-generation platform, which allows users to create eight-second clips (archived link). Image Screenshots showing the video flagged as being made by Google AI (left) and the Veo watermark (right) An analysis of the video also shows it contains visual anomalies indicative of AI-generated content, including blurred and distorted faces and misshapen limbs. Despite the rapid progress of generative AI, errors such as these are often the clearest sign of fabricated videos of images. Image Screenshots from the falsely shared video with visual inconsistencies highlighted by AFP AFP has previously debunked other misleading claims about the war in Gaza that relied on AI-generated content.
France 24
16 hours ago
- France 24
Solomon Islands says China not influencing diplomatic decisions
China, the United States and Taiwan have all been barred from the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Honiara next month, an event they usually attend. China counts the Solomon Islands among its closest partners in the South Pacific and signed a secretive security pact with Honiara in 2022. It has been accused of agitating behind the scenes to see Taiwan excluded from attending the Forum as an observer. The Pacific bloc's top diplomats met in Fiji on Thursday to discuss the Forum's agenda, and Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Peter Shanel Agovaka said his nation was not influenced by China. "Our focus is not on China or Taiwan. Our focus is on the (Pacific) region," Agovaka told AFP. He expressed frustration and blamed the Forum secretariat for the ban because it was yet to agree on "dialogue partners". Agovaka added that the Forum was "all over the place". New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters had earlier warned that "outsiders" interfering with Forum decisions threatened to split the bloc. Peters did not mention China by name, but said the issue would be raised during the foreign ministers' meeting. "We've got to make sure that every outsider comes here with respect for those of us who are inside the organisation," he said. Agovaka defended the presence of such observers at Forum meetings. "They enhance our meetings," he said. - 'Very perplexing' - Communist China has never ruled Taiwan, but Beijing insists the island is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control. China and Taiwan have long vied for diplomatic influence in the South Pacific and elsewhere, with Beijing spending hundreds of millions of dollars building sports stadiums, presidential palaces, hospitals and roads in Pacific island nations. Peters later described Agovaka's comments as "very perplexing". "At this point in time, when aid from another source or other countries is desperately needed and we're out there trying to get it, if the message is we're not interested in seeing you, how's this going to fall?" he said. Chinese officials described accusations they were agitating behind the scenes as "misinformation". "China has participated in every Forum dialogue, and remains committed and looks forward to continuing such engagement," a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the New Zealand capital said. The annual pre-Forum meeting of foreign ministers is typically a light-hearted affair, although the gathering in Suva on Thursday was noticeably more tense. Several countries did send ministers and others did not engage fully. Nauru's representative left, smoking a cigar, after only one morning session. "We're going to sort things out... we'll get things back on an even keel," Peters said. The Forum will be held in Honiara from September 8-12.
AFP
a day ago
- AFP
Naval exercise footage shot in US, not Taiwan
"The army of. US.. Has arrived. in Taiwan," says part of Tagalog-language text overlaid to a Facebook video shared July 30, 2025. The footage, showing aerial shots of troops disembarking from a ship on a beach, has racked up more than one million views. "Let's pray for our fellow Filipinos working in Taiwan," says a narrator, adding the US Navy landed in Taiwan amid heightened tensions with China. Image Screenshot of the false post taken on August 10, 2025, with the red X mark added by AFP The video has also been reshared on TikTok by Filipino users worried about potential conflict in their nearest northern neighbour. Communist China has never ruled Taiwan but Beijing insists the island is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control (archived link). While the United States is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan -- which Beijing opposes -- Washington has long maintained when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend it from a Chinese attack (archived link). According to retired US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery in a May 15 Congressional hearing, there are about 500 US military trainers in Taiwan (archived link). However, the circulating video shows clips from a military exercise on the eastern coast of the United States. Google reverse image searches found the visuals originally published on the US Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) on July 1, 2025 (archived link). The DVIDS caption says they depict an amphibious landing during the Atlantic Alliance exercise in Virginia on June 30, 2025. The Atlantic Alliance exercise is conducted "along the eastern seaboard of the United States" by the US Fleet Forces Command and US Marine Forces Command, it adds. Clips from the 10-minute video have been mirrored and repurposed in the false posts. The video of troops landing on the beach corresponds to the 2:42 mark of the DVIDS video. Image Screenshot comparison of the false video (L) and the US DVIDS video At the 5:30 mark, the same military vehicle is seen disembarking the ship. Image Screenshot comparison of the false video (L) and the US DVIDS video Finally, the aerial video of a huge ship docking on the beach to bring in more military men matches the 6:23 mark of the DVIDS video. Image Screenshot comparison of the false video (L) and the US DVIDS video The video compilation also appeared on the US Central Command's official website on June 30, 2025 (archived link). AFP has fact-checked other misinformation related to Taiwan here.
