Pro-Taiwan AI video shared online as real incident

An AI-generated video purportedly showing a Chinese courier in Shanghai shouting “Democratic Taiwan is the future of the Chinese people” has gone viral with posts saying it shows the real incident as Beijing ramps up pressure on the autonomous island it claims as its own territory. The clip was first shared by a YouTube account that frequently posts synthetic content about Taiwanese politics, and was flagged by the video platform as being generated by AI.

On May 3, 2026, a video of a man in a yellow jacket holding a Taiwanese flag in front of Shanghai’s iconic Oriental Pearl Tower along the Bund was shared on X, with a caption in simplified Chinese saying that a passenger with food delivery service Meituan had been arrested for the stunt.

“We don’t want to be exploited anymore. A democratic Taiwan is the only future for Chinese people,” the man appeared to shout, before uniformed officers restrained him and shouted, “I’m just telling the truth.”

In the upper right corner of the video, you can see the traditional Chinese characters “Light of Taiwan.”

Screenshot of incorrect post with red X and AI label added by AFP

The Chinese government has increased pressure on Taiwan, claiming it as its own territory and opposing the autonomous island’s participation in international organizations and exchanges with other countries (archive link).

China has vowed to occupy Taiwan and has not ruled out the possibility of using force, and has increased military pressure on the island in recent years. Fighter planes and warships are deployed near the island almost every day, and large-scale military exercises are held regularly.

Taiwan has accused China of trying to block President Lai Ching-te’s visit to Eswatini by putting “strong pressure” on Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar to revoke overflight permits for the original visit. This visit was scheduled for April 22-26 and was canceled at the last minute (archive link).

Rai ended up making the trip in early May on the royal plane of Eswatini.

The 10-second clip was shared widely across multiple social media platforms in January and resurfaced on X, Facebook, Threads, and Instagram in April and May.

However, the video is generated by AI.

A keyword search revealed that the earliest version of the video was shared on YouTube by a pro-Taiwanese account on January 4th.

The video was classified by YouTube as “modified or synthetic content.”

The YouTuber regularly publishes short AI-generated videos about Taiwanese politics, including street interviews and clips of people holding the Taiwanese flag in mainland Chinese cities (archive links here and here).

Analysis of the video by AFP found several visual inconsistencies typical of synthetic content. At the beginning of the clip, the man is clearly holding a flag. As the police approach, the flag appears to fall to the ground. However, in the final frame, the flag inexplicably reappears in the man’s hand, but there is no visible movement to indicate that it has returned.

The false post claims that the man is a courier for Meituan, one of China’s largest delivery platforms. However, the logo on the men’s uniforms does not match Meituan’s official kangaroo logo (archive link).

The video was reportedly shot on the Bund, Shanghai’s iconic waterfront. However, the skyline in the clip does not match the street view image of the location (archived link).

When we analyzed the video using Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool, we found that it was generated by AI 99.9% of the time.

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about cross-strait relations.