AI videos spread false rumor on Canada denying US rail bailout
- Published on June 5, 2026 at 22:17
- 2 min read
- By Gwen Roley, AFP Canada
Canada-US relations have been rocky since the start of President Donald Trump's second term, but the trade conflict did not lead to a Canadian rejection of a multi-billion dollar railway deal requested by the United States, as alleged across social media. The claims do not match current railway schedules and configurations and the videos spreading them appear to be part of a large AI network pushing unverified stories.
"The United States just asked Canada for a $573 billion railway bailout and the response they received is being called the most humiliating sentence ever directed at an American president," says the speaker in a May 26, 2026 Instagram reel.
The clip continues in stilted language to allege that after refusing the bailout, Ottawa proceeded to snub Washington by pulling its railway lines from across the border to fortify Canadian routes.
Different versions of the video spread across Instagram, TikTok, Threads, LinkedIn and Facebook, many offering praise to Canada.
Since Trump returned to the White House in 2025 and instigated a trade war driven by tariffs, Canada has distanced itself from its historic ally.
As the two countries ramp up talks to renegotiate the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, Trump again jabbed on June 1 that Canada could be the 51st US State after its economy contracted (archived here).
The brittle relations between the two countries have been the source of numerous false claims -- and the posts alleging a rejected railway bailout are similarly unfounded.
AFP could not find any legitimate evidence that the United States ever broached the idea of multi-billion dollar rail fund from its northern neighbor. Keyword searches do not turn up news stories about the supposed deal.
Furthermore, the claims about a subsequent fallout -- and reinvestment into Canada's railways by Canadian National (CN) and Canada Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) -- appear completely contrived.
According to online schedules from CN and CPKC, both Canadian-headquartered lines continue to run through the United States as of June 2026 (archived here and here).
Transport Canada told AFP that CN and CPKC are private companies which operate independently of the Canadian government.
Reverse image searches reveal the figure in the videos -- an Asian man with glasses -- stars in numerous videos across many accounts covering politics and finance.
However, the persona's rambling speech and out-of-sync mouth movements suggest that these different pages are using an AI avatar to mass-create content.
The Hive Moderation AI detection tool assessed that the video about the rejected rail deal was likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.
Further social media searches unearthed different posts spreading the railway bailout claim from as early as March 2026.
Broadcast style-clips on YouTube spread the same rumor while using AI to impersonate news anchors, including American journalist Rachel Maddow. Archives of Maddow's show do not include any instances of her discussing Canada's supposed bailout refusal.
AFP has previously fact-checked numerous claims about Canada spread via similar "AI slop" campaigns.
Researchers reported that networks of channels were targeting Canadians with these types of videos, which use paid actors or AI to produce sensationalized news content that is sometimes completely fabricated (archived here).
Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.
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