AI video of mass funeral falsely linked to Afghanistan quake
- Published on September 17, 2025 at 06:46
- 2 min read
- By Masroor GILANI, AFP Pakistan
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"This is not Gaza -- this is Afghanistan's Kunar province, where more than 800 people have lost their lives and thousands have been injured just in one night due to a devastating earthquake," reads a post on X on September 2, 2025.
The accompanying clip appears to show people carrying bodies wrapped in white shrouds in a lengthy procession down a road lined with trees.
Similar posts sharing the video surfaced on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube after Afghanistan's deadliest quake in decades jolted the eastern mountainous region bordering Pakistan. At least 2,205 were killed and more than 3,640 injured (archived link).
But the clip is not genuine and an analysis found visual inconsistencies that indicate it was AI-generated.
Some of the bodies wrapped in shrouds appear to be effortlessly carried by only one or two people, while others look like they are being lifted by disembodied hands.
A few funeral attendees also seem to be carrying trees along the road, or walking backwards.
Genuine photos of funerals after the Afghanistan earthquake taken by AFP journalists do not match the circulating visual.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes led to the same video posted on TikTok on August 18, 2025, two weeks before the quake, with the label "creator labelled as AI-generated". The user has repeatedly shared AI content.
The video was falsely portrayed as depicting a scene from Pakistan, where a brutal monsoon season has killed more than 800 people since June (archived link).
AFP has debunked other posts linking AI-generated images to the Afghanistan earthquake here.
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