Video purporting to show women in glass boxes in Ghana is AI-generated
- Published on February 20, 2026 at 12:38
- 4 min read
- By Monique NGO MAYAG, AFP Senegal, AFP Nigeria
- Translation and adaptation Oluseyi AWOJULUGBE
In 2020, researchers estimated 60,000 sex workers were operating in Ghana. Although the government prohibits solicitation, a video purportedly showing women sitting in glass display cases has been shared on social media across Africa as evidence of a red-light district in the capital Accra. However, the video was created using artificial intelligence.
“Who can tell us what these ladies are doing inside the show glass?” reads the caption of a video posted on X by an account with more than 139,000 followers.
The video, which shows young women seated in glass boxes illuminated by red lighting, has been reposted more than 100 times since it was published on February 1, 2026.
Text overlaid on the video reads “Accra” and includes the Ghanaian flag.
A scroll through the comments reveals that some people appear to believe the video is authentic and showcases real sex workers in Ghana’s capital.
"It’s Giving red light district in Amsterdam (sic)," one user commented.
"Prostitutes. Being displayed for customers to pick in a show glass (sic)," another wrote.
AFP Fact Check debunked the claim in French, with some related posts receiving thousands of likes (here and here).
However, the video is not real. An AFP correspondent in Ghana also confirmed that the venue depicted in the video does not exist anywhere in the West African country.
Deformed hands and feet
A closer look at the video reveals visual inconsistencies with the purported sex workers bodies.
One of the women, who appears at 0’03’’ in the clip, has four feet -- one pair wearing pink sandals and the other barefoot.
The next woman appears to have three legs, one of them partially covered by her clothing.
At 0'08", another woman has three arms, with the right one appearing to extend all the way to her ankle. The hand on the extended arm is also deformed, with fingers that are undefined.
These visual anomalies, including extra limbs and distorted body parts, are common in AI-generated imagery, as AI tools still struggle to render human body features accurately.
Analyses of this video using AI detectors supports this conclusion.
InVID-WeVerify (co-created by AFP) and Hive Moderation returned a 60 and 98 percent probability, respectively, of the video being generated using AI.
The video also contains the watermark of a TikTok account called “@king.arthi”, where it was published on January 26, 2025, and has been shared more than 20,000 times since.
“Red light district? Nah, just Accra serving looks and good vibes (sic),” reads part of the caption, which also contains TikTok's AI disclaimer.
The account owner, based in Romania, explicitly states in the bio that their content is generated by AI and that they sell AI content creation training courses.
"Create Cinematic AI content like I do," it reads, directing users to their website.
The account features other similar clips of women supposedly selling sex in glass display windows in various cities such as Berlin, Jakarta, Munich, Bali, and Chongqing. All of them exhibit the same anomalies seen in the video in question, particularly in the fingers.
One of the AI-generated videos claims to show Amsterdam’s red light district, which does exists in reality (archived here).
Illegal work
Winifred Lartey, AFP's correspondent in Ghana, confirmed that such a location does not exist in Accra or elsewhere in the country, as sex work is prohibited.
“We do have cases of prostitution in the country, but this type of commercial sexual exhibition does not exist anywhere in Ghana," Lartey said. "Nothing like this has been documented, has appeared in the media, nor has it been mentioned by human rights lawyers on the programmes of various channels.”
“Sex work is illegal in the country, so people do it in secret. They don't advertise themselves like that for everyone to see, because you can get arrested," she added.
The Criminal Offences Act of 1960 (Act 29, Section 276), criminalises solicitation in public spaces (archived here). A first offence is punishable by a fine, while repeat offences are subject to harsher penalties, including imprisonment.
Although the viral video does not reflect an actual venue in Accra, a 2020 study conducted by a consortium of researchers, including the University of Ghana and the Global HIV/TB Division of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated that nearly 60,000 sex workers were operating in the country at the time (archived here).
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