This TikTok account pumped out fake war footage with AI — until CBC News investigated

For months, an anonymous TikTok account hosted dozens of AI-generated videos of explosions and burning cities. The videos racked up tens of millions of views and fuelled other posts that claimed, falsely, they were real footage of the war in Ukraine.

After CBC News contacted TikTok and the account owner for comment, it disappeared from the platform.

The account, flight_area_zone, had several videos featuring massive explosions which reached millions of viewers. The videos featured hallmarks of AI generation, but lacked any disclaimer as required by TikTok guidelines. TikTok declined to comment about the account.

Several of the videos were spread across different social media platforms by other users, who posted them alongside claims they depicted actual war footage, with several gaining tens of thousands of views. In those posts, some commenters appear to take the videos at face value, and either celebrate or denounce the purported damage, leaving them with an inaccurate sense of the war.

The flight_area_zone account is just one example of a broader trend in social media content, something experts call "AI slop."

It generally refers to content — images, video, text — created using AI. It's often poor quality, sensational or sentimental, in ways that seem designed to generate clicks and engagement. 

AI-generated content has become an important factor in online misinformation. A preprint study published online this year, co-authored by Google researchers, showed that AI-generated misinformation quickly became nearly as popular as traditional forms of manipulated media in 2023.

In October, for example, a similar-looking video from a different TikTok account went viral as people claimed it depicted an Israeli strike on Lebanon. The video, showing raging fires in Beirut, was shared widely across social media and by several prominent accounts. In some cases it was packaged along with real videos showing fires in the Lebanese capital, further blurring the line between fake and real news.

Facebook has also seen an influx of AI-generated content meant to create engagement — clicks, views and more followers — which can generate revenue for its creators.

The flight_zone_area account also had a subscriber function where people could pay for things like unique badges or stickers.

The explosion videos were convincing to some — commenters frequently asked for details about where the explosions were, or expressed joy or dismay at the images. But the videos still had some of the telltale distortions of AI-generated content.

Cars and people on the street seem sped up or warped, and there are several other obvious errors — like a car that is far too large. Many of the videos also share identical audio.

The account also featured videos other than burning skylines. In one, a cathedral-like building burns. In another, a rocket explodes outside of a bungalow.

Older videos showed AI-generated tornadoes and planes catching on fire — a progression that suggests experimentation with what kind of content would be popular and promote engagement, which can be lucrative.