A couple of things in the video give away the verdict.
The footage has a Veo watermark on the bottom-right corner. Veo[3] is Google’s artificial intelligence video generating model, which can create[4] videos up to 8 seconds long that include audio. This matches the time frame of the X video[5] (without counting the TikTok watermark at the end).
(Screengrab from X post)
Some other signs[6] of AI generation are:
(Screengrab from X post)
V.S. Subrahmanian, a professor at Northwestern University’s Security and AI Lab, added, “The visual rendering of the words ‘No Kings’ appears unusually pristine and uniform.”
While a human banner during the “No Kings” protests made an appearance[7] Oct. 18 on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, it was during the day and included text saying, “No Kings YES on 50,” a reference to the Proposition 50 question about California’s congressional redistricting.
Other countries participated in the “No Kings” protests, including England[8], Canada[9], Germany[10] and Portugal[11]. We found no footage similar to what’s in the X post from the UK.
The video[12] originated on a TikTok account that says it’s “covering the news you need to see.” The account has shared other AI generated videos. For example, on Oct. 19 it shared[13] an almost identical video claiming to show footage from Washington, D.C.’s “No Kings” protests. Back in June, for the first weekend of “No Kings” protests, the account shared[14] another AI generated video of a Philadelphia crowd.
The video doesn’t show a real “No Kings” protest in the United Kingdom. We rate it Pants on Fire!
References
- ^ X post (x.com)
- ^ Instagram (www.instagram.com)
- ^ Veo (deepmind.google)
- ^ create (gemini.google)
- ^ X video (x.com)
- ^ signs (www.politifact.com)
- ^ made an appearance (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ England (apnews.com)
- ^ Canada (www.cbc.ca)
- ^ Germany (www.reutersconnect.com)
- ^ Portugal (apnews.com)
- ^ video (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ shared (www.tiktok.com)
- ^ shared (www.tiktok.com)