What was claimed
A Facebook page is publishing images and footage of breaking news events.
Our verdict
False. The visuals are AI-generated.
AAP FACTCHECK - A Sri Lankan Facebook page posing as an Australian news site is posting AI-generated images that purport to show real photos from breaking news scenes.
The Aussie News Today page bills itself as “your go-to source for breaking news, politics, sports, and weather across Australia” and posts multiple times a day about high-profile events making headlines in Australia.
An October 3 post, for example, includes an image that purports to show the scene after a car crashed into a crowd gathered for the Newcastle Knights rugby league grand final procession that morning.
“BREAKING: Car Crashes Into Newcastle Knights Fans in Newcastle — 9 Injured,” the post reads.
“A car has crashed into a crowd of Newcastle Knights supporters in Newcastle, NSW, during a gathering ahead of the team’s big game… The driver has been arrested, and police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash."
The event is real, but the image is fabricated and bears no resemblance to genuine footage from the scene, such as the photos and videos ABC News published on the day of the crash.
A Google AI detection tool confirms the image contains an invisible watermark known as SynthID that affirms it is AI-generated.
The image also contains visual clues that it is AI, including garbled writing on emergency workers’ uniforms and on the police cordon.
An October 5 post by the same Facebook page includes an image that purports to show a man being loaded into an ambulance after allegedly being stabbed in the Sydney suburb of Newtown.
As with the Facebook post about the Newcastle car crash, the story is real, but the image is an AI-generated fake.
Emergency services were called to the Dendy Newton cinema on October 5 after a 26-year-old woman allegedly stabbed a 48-year-old man in the hand, according to 9News.
However, the image of the Dendy Newton cinema in the Facebook post doesn't match the real building.
Google Maps shows the cinema isn't on a street corner, as the fake image depicts, and it has a different logo from the one in the Facebook post.
The accidental death of an Australian soldier has also been given an AI-generated makeover by the Aussie News Today page.
Corporal Brendan Hannam was killed on October 5 when a vehicle he was travelling in near Darwin rolled over during a military training exercise.
Five other people were injured in the incident.
An October 8 post by the page purports to show the aftermath, featuring paramedics, crash investigators and a military helicopter.
However, the image shows clear signs of AI, including garbled characters on vehicle number plates, and has not been published by any credible news outlet.
The Facebook page also posts AI-generated video reports about Australian news events, including a report claiming to show footage from a fire at the abandoned Austral Picture Theatre in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood on September 26.
The footage of the burning theatre is clearly fake, and the grand building seen on fire in the Facebook video bears no resemblance to the already-dilapidated former theatre seen on Google Maps before the blaze.
Google's SynthID Detector confirms the images purporting to show the Dendy cinema, the aftermath of the Northern Territory military death and the video of the Collingwood theatre fire were all created using Google AI tools.
Meta’s page transparency details show the Aussie News Today page is operated by a user in Sri Lanka.
AAP FactCheck previously debunked a similar Facebook page that published AI-generated images purporting to show photos from breaking news events in New Zealand.
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.
