AI deepfakes flood social media after dramatic US raid on Maduro

From AI deepfakes to recycled, outdated images, a surge of visual misinformation has inundated social media platforms after US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a stunning raid on his Caracas home.

Collectively racking up millions of views, the fake or misleading posts underscore a new digital reality in which hyperrealistic misinformation competes for attention with – and often drowns out – authentic images and videos following major news events.

Soon after Maduro’s capture, fact-checkers uncovered posts on platforms such as X and Facebook purporting to show the first image of the Venezuelan in US custody, flanked by American forces near an aircraft.

But the image – which made Maduro appear younger – was AI generated, with Google’s artificial intelligence tool Gemini detecting a SynthID, an invisible watermark meant to identify AI content.

Social media users also shared an image claiming to show an American soldier posing with Maduro, who has a bag over his head.

But the image was from 2003 and shows the US capture of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, press reports from the time show.

The disinformation watchdog NewsGuard said it identified seven fabricated, misrepresented images and videos related to the US operation in Venezuela, which collectively garnered more than 14 million views in under two days on the Elon Musk-owned platform X alone.