A video claiming to show a large anti-government protest in Birmingham has been debunked as fake. The footage, which gained thousands of reactions on Facebook, was generated using artificial intelligence, according to fact-checking charity Full Fact.
The clip appeared to show a crowd holding banners and Union flags in Centenary Square near the Library of Birmingham. However, analysis revealed it contained SynthID watermarks from Google's AI tools, along with visual anomalies such as buses travelling backwards and nonsensical writing on signs. West Midlands Police confirmed they were unaware of any such protest.
Separately, a video of Rotherham's mayor has been falsely claimed to show her calling for Sharia law and the deportation of non-Muslims. The clip actually shows Councillor Rukhsana Ismail delivering a Ramadan greeting in Arabic and English, with no mention of Sharia law or any action against non-Muslims. The original post was captioned 'Ramadan Kareem' and 'Ramadan Mubarak'.
Both incidents highlight the prevalence of misleading content on social media. Full Fact urges users to verify sources before sharing such material.
