AI-generated videos used to tout non-existent Philippine government subsidy
- Published on August 1, 2025 at 10:54
- 4 min read
- By Lucille SODIPE, AFP Philippines
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"DSWD education cash assistance for everyone in school," reads the English and Tagalog-language caption of a Facebook video shared on July 9, 2025.
The caption also includes a link where people can register for the purported cash assistance programme offered by the Philippines' Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The video shows a man wearing a DSWD branded shirt speaking to camera from a school yard, with students milling about in the background.
He claims all students are entitled to varying amounts of educational cash assistance, depending on their grade and urges them to register online through the provided link.
Superimposed text on the video says the cash will be paid out on July 12. The logos of the DSWD and the Department of Education are also superimposed.
The same video was also shared on TikTok, where it was viewed more than 1.2 million times. Similar videos were also shared elsewhere on TikTok and Facebook.
These posts provide a link to a website where people can register their name, address and phone number, but the site is not a government webpage belonging to either the DSWD or education department.
Both departments have also issued warnings about the posts.
The DSWD said in a July 11 post on its verified Facebook page that the circulating posts and videos were "fake", reminding the public to be wary of information that does not come directly from its official social media accounts (archived link).
An earlier post by the DSWD said it "does not offer direct financial assistance for education", but runs a scheme where students in need can receive assistance in exchange for tutoring elementary students who are struggling or have not yet learned to read (archived link).
"AI videos being shared by a certain Facebook page about a supposed DSWD Educational Cash Assistance for all students is fake news," added an education department post on its verified Facebook page from July 17 (archived link).
AI-generated videos
A reverse image search led to more false posts, but Google's "About this image" feature identified the video as having been made with AI.
The ability to detect AI-generated images is based on Google's SynthID technology, which was launched by its DeepMind AI lab in 2023 (archived here and here).
A closer analysis of the video shows it contains a watermark in the bottom-right corner for Veo, Google's video-generation platform that allows users to create eight-second videos (archived here and here).
The falsely shared video appears to have been created by splicing together three clips each around eight seconds long.
The falsely shared videos also contains visual inconsistencies, which despite the meteoric rise of AI technology remain an indicator of inauthentic visuals.
In one video, for example, two students walking behind the speaker appear to merge into one.
AFP has also previously debunked similar false claims about cash assistance programmes in the Philippines.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
