Fact check: Social media channel of migrant’s journey posts AI-generated videos

A channel on social media platform TikTok (archived link here) charts the journey of a migrant on a small boat and his and others’ reception in the UK where they are given free food, accommodation and phones.

Evaluation

The videos on the channel appear to be AI-generated.

The facts

On four days between June 9 and June 13, the channel “migrantvlog” uploaded 22 videos to the social media platform.

At the time of writing, the most-watched video had around 374,000 views on the platform. In total, five of the videos had more than 100,000 views. The channel had 1,647 followers and more than 11,000 likes.

Comments on the videos show some viewers realised that the videos are AI-generated. However, others seemed to be reacting as if they are real.

What evidence is there that the videos are AI?

There is clear evidence of AI generation in many of the videos. Most tellingly, several of the videos have watermarks for Veo – an AI video generation tool.

One video posted with the caption “5 star meorot we going” includes a section at around seven seconds where a man on the right of the frame seems to momentarily lose his arm. This video is one of several with a Veo watermark. The watermark appears in the bottom-right corner, where it might be obscured from some viewers by TikTok’s display icons.

Between that video and another posted later the same day, the main protagonist’s voice seems to change. The second video includes scrambled text on the front of a building, a hallmark sign of AI. At around five seconds, a man appears to pull a large camera out of his crotch, while at seven seconds a person sat in a chair appears to become translucent.

Another video shows a protest with men waving flags. The man behind the right shoulder of the person filming moves his arm in an unnatural way and the flag in his hand seems to appear and disappear.

A video shows a man running with a group while holding a burning Union flag. The flag is on fire, however the material does not appear to be blackening, and the way the men behind the protagonist interact seems almost ghost-like as they move through each other in unnatural ways.

In a video in which the man says “thank you British taxpayers for feeding us this good food”, a fork can be seen appearing seemingly out of thin air in the background while a man appears to pass a plate through his own hand.

Links

TikTok channel (archived)

Video titled “money money great britin” uploaded on June 9 (archived post and screenshot of comments)

Video titled “halal only” uploaded on June 13 (archived post and screenshot of comments)

Google – Veo (archived)

Video titled “5 star meorot we going” uploaded on June 9 (archived)

Video titled “thank u British tax payers” uploaded on June 9 (archived)

Video titled “control the enemy” uploaded on June 9 (archived)

Video titled “goodnight britian reform suck” uploaded on June 10 (archived)

Video titled “good food buffay” uploaded on June 10 (archived)

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