AI clip falsely shared as China protest following actor's death
- Published on October 28, 2025 at 10:14
- 2 min read
- By Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
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The unexpected death of Chinese actor Yu Menglong in September 2025 has sparked baseless rumours, with many of his fans expressing distrust in the official report stating he was killed in an accident. Widely shared social media posts falsely claim a rare anti-government protest erupted in China to demand for justice following his death. However, there is no evidence such a rally occurred and the clip shared in the posts is AI-generated.
"Chinese citizens took to the streets to protest against the Communist Party for yumenglong's death," reads the text overlay of a TikTok video shared October 14, 2025.
Additional text at the bottom of the clip written in traditional Chinese repeats the message.
It shows a huge mass of people marching on the street holding banners and the Chinese national flag. Chinese slogans such as "Let's stick together" or "We want freedom" can also be heard but there is no mention of Yu.
The video has been viewed more than 430,000 times and attracted over 2,000 comments, including from users who believed it depicted a genuine rally.
Protests are rare in China, where any and all opposition to the ruling Communist Party and anything seen as a threat to the civil order is swiftly quashed.
"I'm sure glad that the people in China are standing up for Yu Menglong. Much support is needed," one wrote. Another said: "Wow, I am in another country but I support this action. Justice for Yu".
Similar posts sharing the video surfaced elsewhere on TikTok and also on X and Facebook following Yu's death on September 11, 2025 (archived link).
The actor, who started his career as a singer and later gained fame playing a main character in a Chinese historical web drama, was 37 years old.
Local police said he accidentally fell from a building in Beijing after drinking, but numerous posts quickly spread online doubting the results of the investigation (archived here and here).
The hashtag "#justiceforyumenglong" has been used in over 57,000 posts on TikTok. Yu's fans have also organised rallies in the United States demanding Chinese authorities to disclose "the truth of his death" (archived link).
But there is no evidence that a large-scale rally has been staged in China following Yu's death and the TikTok clip is generated by artificial intelligence.
In the video, the watermark of "Sora" appears several times. The logo indicates the visual was created using software from OpenAI, the American company that created ChatGPT.
The clip also features incomprehensible Chinese characters on signs and distorted facial features, further indicating it is not authentic.
AFP has previously debunked other false claims related to protests in China.
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