AI-generated fake videos of Nepal floods spreading online
Tuesday, 1 September 2026 12:23
Fake, AI-generated and recycled videos spread widely on social media as deadly floods hit the Nepal-China border, France 24 reported in its “Truth or Fake” segment.
Vedika Bahl reviewed viral posts falsely linked to the disaster, including footage from India, Chile and Alaska. One widely shared video gained more than 7 million views and appeared to show floodwater sweeping away vehicles and pedestrians, but it contained a SynthID digital watermark showing it was made with Google’s AI tools.
The report said another viral before-and-after montage claiming to show a destroyed town was also fake and AI-generated. A video claiming to show an elephant rescuing a trapped man was falsely linked to Nepal, with no credible reports of such a rescue; it had circulated weeks before the floods, and Meta tools found signs it was AI-generated.
Old footage also spread after reports that a glacier collapse may have contributed to the flash floods. Videos claiming to show a collapse near Tibet were viewed millions of times, but one was filmed years earlier in Chilean Patagonia and another showed Alaska’s Columbia Glacier, previously posted by the pilot who recorded it.
A separate video of a flash flood sweeping through a valley was shared as current footage from Nepal, but it was filmed more than a year earlier in Uttarakhand, India. “It is important to stress that while the images and videos examined here are fake or unrelated to Nepal, the disaster itself is very real, and genuine footage of the devastating floods is emerging from the affected areas,” the report said.
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