[Anchor]
While massive damage continues from the recent crisis, fake and fabricated videos are running rampant. Disaster footage from other countries in the past and images created by artificial intelligence are being altered and spread indiscriminately as scenes from Nepal.
Reporter Lee Gyeong-won verifies this in Fact Check Factis.
[Reporter]
This video shows muddy water sweeping down a valley in an instant.
It was posted with the caption "scarier than a movie," claiming it shows the damage from the massive flood in Nepal.
Believed to have originated overseas, it is also spreading rapidly in South Korea.
When verifying the video through image search, it was confirmed to be footage from a major flood that occurred in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand in August of last year.
At the time, it frequently appeared in foreign media outlets such as the BBC.
Pitch-black water rushes fiercely down a village alley, and a utility pole collapses helplessly against the strong current.
This is also labeled as a scene from the Nepal disaster, but it turned out to be footage of the damage from the July 2021 landslide in Atami, Japan.
This video of a house sinking completely and floating away was filmed during the June 2022 floods at Yellowstone National Park in the United States, while the video of earth and sand overwhelming a village and washing away cars was confirmed to be AI-generated.
When viewed in slow motion, AI-specific unnatural movements become apparent.
Some create and share false videos to gain attention, while others do it for fun.
However, in disaster situations, this does not end as simple misinformation.
It carries the risk of actually interfering with rescue operations.
This is because in the early stages of a disaster, when it is difficult to know where and how severe the damage is, it can cause confusion regarding rescue priorities and lead to a waste of resources.
In fact, Hurricane Harvey in the U.S. in 2017 and the Kerala flood disaster in India the following year are cited as cases where rescues were delayed due to confusion caused by false videos.
(Video by: Seol Min-hwan | Video Editing by: Kim Jong-tae)
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