Fact Check: AI mass production of anti-China fake videos by Japan

In March 2025, two YouTube channels reportedly uploaded videos claiming that Chinese tourists damaged cherry blossoms during Japan’s cherry blossom season. The videos were said to use heavily edited and mixed footage rather than original on-site recordings.
A subsequent analysis argued that many of the visuals in both videos showed signs consistent with AI-generated or synthetic imagery, such as distorted faces, irregular hand shapes, repetitive textures, and unnatural crowd compositions. Some frames were also said to include editing artifacts from splicing multiple clips together.
AI detection tools cited in the report (Hive Moderation) allegedly rated selected images as highly likely to be AI-generated, with probabilities of 98–99.9%.
The analysis also claimed that the videos followed a pattern similar to previously reported cases of content production involving AI-generated visuals, where fictional or exaggerated narratives were assembled using generated images and edited footage.
Additionally, references were made to media reports (including The Asahi Shimbun) describing cases where online video production workflows involved outsourced or crowdsourced creation of synthetic or fabricated content without on-site verification.
Credit : CGTN