“The eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau was recorded at sea,” reads part of the Indonesian-language caption of a Facebook video shared on July 5, 2026.
The video, which has been viewed more than 62,000 times, appears to show several people on a boat using cellphones to record the purported eruption as the sky turns red and blue. A warning about the eruption to ships in the Sunda Strait can be heard in the background.
Screenshot of the incorrect post taken on July 8, 2026, with a red X and AI label added by AFP
The video was also shared on similar Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and X posts.
The issue surfaced days after Indonesia’s Geological Agency raised the volcano’s alert status from Level II (warning) to Level III (warning), the second highest level on the country’s four-tier volcano alert system, due to intensifying volcanic activity (archives here and here).
Anak Krakatau volcano is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, and its eruption and subsequent collapse on December 22, 2018 caused a deadly tsunami that killed more than 400 people and injured thousands (archive link).
Authorities established an exclusion zone around the volcano in early July, warning locals, fishermen and tourists to stay away due to the risk of eruption.
However, the circulating video does not show the eruption of Anak Krakatoa.
After the video was published (July 7th and 8th), local media reported on multiple eruptions that sent plumes of smoke hundreds of meters into the air (archives here and here).
“Hoax” video
Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency and the Ministry of Energy’s Geological Agency both dismissed the circulating clip as a “hoax” (archives here and here).
The Geological Agency also posted photos captured by surveillance cameras showing the recent eruption.
Screenshot of CCTV video shared by the Geological Agency showing the July 2nd and July 3rd eruptions
A combination of reverse image search and keyword search revealed that the same clip had been posted to TikTok on November 5, 2025, albeit without the audio.
Part of its long caption reads: “Eruption of Krakatoa: Raining lava at sea during boat trip.” This clip also has TikTok’s AI warning label.
If you look closely at the video, you’ll see that it contains visual errors, a telltale sign of AI-generated content.
The eruption is not visible on the cell phone screens that are believed to be recording the event, and the eruption itself looks unnatural, with a plume of smoke changing from bright purple to red to orange.
Screenshot of an erroneously shared video containing visual errors highlighted by AFP
Analysis using the University at Buffalo’s DeepFake-o-Meter detection tool indicates that both the clip and its audio are “likely” to have been generated by AI (archived link).
Screenshot of DeepFake-o-Meter results
AFP previously debunked other false claims about volcanic eruptions using AI-generated content.
