What was claimed
Quotes and pictures reveal details about landslides in New Zealand.
Our verdict
False. The quotes and images are fake.
AAP FACTCHECK - Fake images and stories about a New Zealand landslide that killed six people are being used to drive engagement on Facebook.
The images do not contain artificial intelligence (AI) labels but all feature geographic impossibilities, hallucinated details or digital watermarks indicating they were AI-generated or show other unrelated disasters.
The stories shared online about the actions and purported videos of victims have not been reported by any credible news outlets.
Six people are presumed dead after a massive landslide at one of NZ’s most popular beach campsites at Mt Maunganui on the North Island.
Several Facebook pages have repeatedly published AI-generated images of the landslide and other NZ disasters, including one calling itself "NZ New Hub", a name very similar to the now-defunct news service, Newshub.
One Facebook post features a purported image of emergency crews looking up at a mountain with several houses buried by a landslide.
"Landslip Tragedy at Mt Maunganui: At Least Six Missing, Including Two Teenagers," the post reads.
However, the image is a fake as it does not resemble the actual disaster zone.
Photos from the news site Stuff show the slip hit a campground and pool, not residential houses.
A second post shared a purported image of the disaster showing houses scattered across an inland mountain, even though Mt Maunganui itself is uninhabited and at the end of a narrow peninsula.
Other posts published by Vietnam-based Facebook pages with the caption "Tragic breaking news" feature a collage of images showing a landslide zone, two children, a police officer and rescue workers removing wrapped-up bodies.
"Tragic breaking news to bring you tonight. DISASTER AT PARADISE CAMPGROUND: Deadly Landslide Smashes Through Mount Maunganui Holiday Park After Record Rainfall — CHILDREN FEARED TRAPPED as Rescuers Race Against Time in ‘War-Zone’ Conditions… BUT OFFICIALS WARN THE WORST MAY STILL BE UNFOLDING," the post reads.
However, the images appear to be AI-generated and they do not match any authentic photos published by credible news outlets.
The police officer in the image is not wearing an NZ police uniform, and the two children pictured do not resemble any of the six victims reported by the NZ Herald.
Vietnam-based pages have also targeted 15-year-old victim Max Furse-Kee.
One post claims he screamed warnings to others just before the landslide, while another claims "a final video" of Max was "recorded minutes before disaster".
A further post claiming the teen's last moments were recorded includes a Reuters photo of a different landslide at Te Araroa, on the North Island's east coast.
The posts contain links to external websites that do not contain any such videos of Max.
Verified videos of the landslide published by media, such as the BBC, do not show the teen doing what the posts claim.
The Furse-Kee family does not mention the 15-year-old's actions in the lead-up to the landslide or any videos of him in their official statement.
However, another victim, teacher Lisa Maclennan, has been hailed by other campers for raising the alarm before she was killed, the NZ Herald reported.
The “NZ News Hub” Facebook page has also published many other AI-generated images of other disasters.
Google Image searches reveal that several images contain a “SynthID” watermark embedded in their pixels, indicating they were created using the tech company's AI image generators.
One post has shared purported images of a large landslide on State Highway 35 in the East Cape region, but they bear no resemblance to authentic photos of the scene published by broadcaster RNZ.
Another post featured a supposed image of emergency crews on the Mahurangi River, north of Auckland, after a man drowned during recent flooding.
However, they are clearly AI-generated as the river in the images is much narrower than the actual river seen in an RNZ report and the back of one police officer's shirt reads “POPFIL” instead of "POLICE".
A post by NZ News Hub claims to show a storm-damaged Hicks Bay Motor Lodge on the East Coast, but the building doesn’t look anything like the smaller, one-storey facility seen on the lodge's website and in an RNZ report.
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