Nepal battles misinformation as AI-generated visuals flood social media after disaster

Nepal is battling a surge of fake and AI-generated visuals following devastating flash floods, complicating rescue efforts and searches for missing people. Authorities ordered 72 social media users to remove inappropriate content, while fact-checkers exposed fabricated and recycled disaster footage online

Kathmandu, Sep 1 (PTI) Nepal is battling a deluge of misinformation, alongside rescue and relief operations as fake and AI-generated visuals inundated social media following the devastating flash floods, prompting the government to order 72 users to remove inappropriate content over the past few days.

The Nepal Press Council, the country’s media regulatory body, has opened a dedicated portal, titled “Special Complaints on the Bhotekoshi Incident”, through which the public can report misinformation and graphic material related to the disaster, The Kathmandu Post reported on Monday.

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The move comes as social media platforms have been inundated with dramatic videos and images purportedly showing the destruction caused by the flash floods in the Himalayan nation.

While some of the footage is genuine, fact-checkers have found that several widely circulated videos and images are from disasters in other countries, recycled from earlier events or generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence, the report said.

The rapid spread of misleading content has complicated an already chaotic information environment at a time when families are desperately searching for missing relatives and authorities are trying to establish the full extent of the disaster.

For social media users chasing views and virality, the tragedy has also become a source of lucrative content, prompting concerns among authorities, journalists and fact-checkers.

According to Nepal Press Council Chairman Umesh Shrestha, 72 social media users have been instructed to remove inappropriate content, most of it posted through personal accounts.

The council’s dedicated portal had received 101 complaints by 5 pm on Saturday, including complaints against 67 personal accounts that had posted gruesome visuals, Shrestha said.

“Similarly, complaints have been lodged against some online news portals and their social media pages,” he said, adding that mainstream media organisations had largely avoided publishing misleading information and excessively graphic visuals.

“This is a positive takeaway,” Shrestha said.

One widely circulated video purported to show Home Minister Sudan Gurung inside a tunnel at the disaster site helping with rescue operations. The footage, however, was traced to a tunnel rescue operation in Uttarakhand, India, and had originally been posted by the Fire Service Uttarakhand Police on August 14.

Another video posted on X on August 27, showing what appeared to be a catastrophic flood, garnered more than seven million views. It was assessed by Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool, as 97.2 per cent likely to have been generated through artificial intelligence, while X’s community notes also flagged it as fabricated.

A separate video purporting to show a bridge collapsing during the Nepal-Tibet floods was also assessed as entirely AI-generated.

Nepal Fact Check, a fact-checking website, debunked another video claiming to show a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Rasuwa. Fact-checkers traced the footage to a glacial outburst flood at Columbia Glacier in Alaska, the United States.

Similarly, “before and after” photographs claiming to show a settlement in Rasuwa before and after the floods were found to be fabricated by the Australian Associated Press fact-checking unit.

Fact-checkers say the growing use of AI has added a new dimension to the longstanding problem of recycled and falsely attributed disaster footage.

The government’s Social Media Regulation and Management Committee, which has been tasked with addressing graphic content, AI-generated misinformation, fake QR codes and other forms of online deception, has also begun discussions with social media platforms, the Post report said.

The crisis has also raised concerns over the circulation of graphic footage showing bodies, injuries and devastated communities, often without warnings or consideration for victims and their families.

The flash floods, believed to have been triggered by a collapse or avalanche of ice and rock near the Nepal-Tibet border, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal on August 26.

Over 900 people were killed, while more than 4,245 people are still missing following the disaster, authorities said.

The Bhotekoshi River, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.