What was claimed
Videos show real Australians protesting against benefit fraud, halal meat and sharia law.
Our verdict
False. The videos are AI-generated.
AAP FACTCHECK - Spam Facebook accounts are stirring up debate online with AI-generated videos purporting to show Australians protesting about a variety of social and political issues.
The videos show clear signs they were created using AI, such as visual errors, garbled writing and mispronounced words.
One AI-generated clip, posted to Facebook on August 24, shows a woman being interviewed at what appears to be an anti-immigration rally, with placards in the background saying “Send them back” and “Australia first”.
“We need to protect our country from radical elements,” the woman tells the interviewer in the clip.
“And benefit fraud, it has to stop… No more handouts for fraudsters. Australia first.”
Some of the placards have garbled, nonsensical writing on them - a strong clue the clip was AI-generated.
For example, one placard seen on the left of the clip appears to say, “SEND THEM ARSK” instead of “Send them back”.
The man carrying the “SEND THEM ARSK” placard also appears to be holding it with three hands - one on either side of his sign and one on the placard stick.
Another video by the same Facebook account shows a middle-aged man holding a large sign protesting halal meat in Australia.
“It’s time to take a stand,” he says. "No more halal. Ban it now."
However, the sign he is holding misspells the word halal as “halala” - a clear indication the video is AI-generated.
Additionally, cars in the video are parked on the right-hand side of the road, even though Australia drives on the left. It is illegal throughout Australia to park on the right-hand side of the road against traffic.
The same Facebook account also posted an AI-generated clip purporting to show a woman saying Australia needs to “take a stand” against sharia law.
However, the woman mispronounces the word sharia as “sheria” before changing her pronunciation to “sharia” a few seconds later.
As with the video of the man protesting against halal meat, the cars in the video are all illegally parked on the right-hand side of the road, facing against traffic.
Another video posted by the account shows a woman holding a sign saying, “Should benefits for asylum seekers in Australia be cut entirely?”
Confusingly, the woman answers her own question by saying, “I say no, these are vulnerable people,” before immediately going on to say, “we must deport them”.
The video also includes visual errors that are hallmarks of AI.
Halfway through the 10-second clip, a man wearing navy shorts and carrying a black backpack walks behind the woman who is speaking, then disappears.
In the final two seconds, a person who appears to be the same man walks past the woman in the other direction, as if he has magically teleported from behind her to in front of her while she was speaking.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube.
