AI-generated clip of Sudan’s humanitarian crisis used to solicit donations
- Published on November 20, 2025 at 15:51
- Updated on November 20, 2025 at 16:57
- 4 min read
- By Tolera FIKRU GEMTA, AFP Ethiopia
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Reports of atrocities in El-Fasher, allegedly committed by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in late October, triggered international condemnation and calls for an independent investigation. A clip widely circulating on social media amid the escalating humanitarian crisis claims to show a Sudanese mother clasping her two children and begging for help. However, the video is AI-generated while the post appeals to viewers for donations.
“In this video, a woman in Sudan cries out for mercy, holding her two babies close, shaking, lost, and broken not because she did anything wrong, but because life has turned against her,” reads the caption in an Instagram post published on November 4, 2025.
Liked more than 13,000 times, the post describes the mother's suffering, emphasising her experience of “fear, hunger, and war”.
It then requests donations through a fundraising link.
“Please, if you can, visit the link in my bio… …any small donation on our donorsbox can help us provide food, warm clothes, and shelter for my family.”
The post includes a 12-second video showing a mother clutching her two children and crying, a scene of destruction behind her.
“O Lord, be with us, O Arabs, O Muslims, O world! The children of Sudan are in danger,” the woman appears to say in Arabic.
When clicked, the fundraising link attached leads to a crowdfunding page for “Hossam Abusultan”.
Similar posts were also shared on Facebook in The Netherlands and the Palestinian Territories, but without calling for donations.
Sudan crisis
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at war with the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, since April 2023.
Commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF has been accused of committing mass killings and other atrocities since it captured El-Fasher — the army’s last remaining stronghold in western Darfur — on October 26, 2025 (archived here).
On November 14, 2025, the UN Human Rights Council ordered investigators to identify those responsible for the atrocities in El-Fasher to ensure they are brought to justice (archived here).
The following day, the head of the Danish Refugee Council told AFP that more than half of Sudan’s population is now in need of humanitarian assistance (archived here).
However, the clip of the pleading mother was created using artificial intelligence (AI).
AI-generated clip
AFP Fact Check identified anomalies in the video typically produced by AI.
Firstly, there is a subtle change in skin tone as the mother and her children appear close-up in the frame.
Secondly, the child held in the woman’s left arm remains unnaturally still while she speaks. At the same time, the other child moves.
AFP Fact Check analysed the clip with Hive Moderation – an online detection tool for AI-generated content. The results indicated a 92 percent probability that the footage is artificial.
Donation appeal
The fundraising page named “Donorbox” has no details except a headline that reads: “Help Hossam feed his kids.”
It requests contributions ranging from $10 to $1,000. It does not offer any transparency about the fundraiser’s purpose and legitimacy.
As of November 20, 2025, eight donations worth $225.08 had been raised. The target is $25,000.
AFP Fact Check reviewed the Instagram account “gaza_hossam.family”, which posted the video. In the bio, Hossam is described as a “father from Gaza” who lost a leg.
The account was created in 2022, a year before the latest war in Gaza erupted, and has changed usernames seven times, according to Instagram’s transparency information.
The feed is populated with daily videos of a man urging people to donate money for food.
We tested four videos randomly using deepfake detectors Hiya and Fraunhofer. The results showed that the audio in all sample videos contained evidence of AI manipulation, including this clip with more than 98 percent certainty.
AFP Fact Check has debunked several claims related to the Sudan crisis in English and Arabic (see here and here).
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