Misleading AI content spreads following Maduro’s withdrawal

Following the US military operation in Venezuela that led to the removal of its leader, Nicolas Maduro, AI-generated videos purporting to show Venezuelan citizens partying in the streets went viral on social media.

These artificial intelligence clips, depicting cheering crowds, have been viewed millions of times on major platforms like TikTok, Instagram and X.

One of the oldest and most widely shared clips on X was posted by an account called “Wall Street Apes,” which has more than a million followers on the platform.

THE job depicts a series of Venezuelan citizens crying tears of joy and thanking the United States and President Donald Trump for removing Maduro.

The video has since been flagged by Community Note, a crowdsourced fact-checking feature on X that allows users to add context to posts they believe are misleading. The note read: “This video is generated by AI and is currently presented as a factual statement intended to mislead people.”

The clip was viewed more than 5.6 million times and shared by at least 38,000 accounts, including by business mogul Elon Musk, before the repost was eventually deleted.

CNBC, however, was unable to confirm the origin of the video. fact checkers the BBC and AFP said the first known version of the clip appeared on the TikTok account @curiousmindusawhich regularly publishes AI-generated content.

Even before such videos appeared, AI-generated images showing Maduro in US custody were circulated before the Trump administration released an authentic image of the captured leader.

The deposed Venezuelan president was captured on January 3, 2026, after US forces carried out airstrikes and a ground raid, an operation that made global headlines at the start of the new year.

Alongside AI-generated videos, the The AFP fact-checking team also flagged a number of examples of misleading content surrounding Maduro’s ouster, including images of celebrations in Chile falsely presented as scenes from Venezuela.

Trump also reposted several videos related to Venezuelan celebrations on Truth Social this week, although CNBC confirmed that many of them were also filmed outside Venezuela, in cities like Panama City And Buenos Aires.

One of videos reshared by the president included old images that first appeared online under the title from July 2024 and was therefore not linked to the recent impeachment of Maduro.

Last year, AI-generated videos showing women complaining about losing their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits during a government shutdown also went viral. One such AI-generated video fooled Fox News, which presented this is also real in an article that was published later deleted.

Last year, the Indian government propose a law requiring such labeling, while Spain approved fines of up to €35 million for unlabeled AI materials.

To address these concerns, major platforms including TikTok and Meta have deployed AI detection and labeling tools, although the results appear mixed.

CNBC was able to identify misleading information TikTok videos about Venezuela that had been labeled as AI-generated, but others that appeared to be digitally fabricated or altered did not yet have a warning.

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Adam Mosseri, who oversees Instagram and Threads, acknowledged the challenge facing social media in a recent post. job. “All major platforms will do a good job identifying AI content, but their work will deteriorate over time as AI improves in its ability to mimic reality,” he said.

“There are already a growing number of people who believe, like me, that it will be more practical to fingerprint real media outlets than fake ones,” he added.

— CNBC’s Victoria Yeo contributed to this report