Lighthouse Journalism found a video widely shared across social media platforms, with several users claiming it was CCTV footage of a real incident.
The accompanying posts alleged that the video showed a biker repeatedly harassing a woman, who then pulled out a gun and fired at him, forcing him to flee. These claims were circulated without any verifiable evidence establishing the video’s authenticity or the context in which it was recorded.
During the investigation we found that the video was AI-generated and not real. The viral claim is fake.
Claim:
X user, Manoj Rathore shared the viral video with a false claim.
Other users are also sharing the video with a similar claim.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by downloading the video and extracting keyframes.
We could not find any credible profiles posting the same video or any news organisations carrying a report about it.
However, we identified a few anomalies in the video, such as how the bike turned smoothly or the fire from the gun.
Hence, we downloaded the video and ran it through the AI content detector.
We first ran it through HIVE Moderation, an AI content detector. The tool suggested “This input is likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content”.
Another AI detector, ‘detectvideo.ai,’ also suggested that ‘multiple forensic signals are elevated, producing 56% AI or manipulation likelihood’.
Conclusion: The viral video of a burqa-clad woman opening fire allegedly on a man harassing her is AI-generated. The viral video and the claim are fake.
