A video that appears to show a large protest and a man giving an interview criticizing the cost of living is not real and was created using artificial intelligence (AI).
The clip, which has garnered more than 3,000 reactions and hundreds of shares on Facebook, is captioned: “Not a politician, not a journalist. Just a real person in the crowd saying what every working family in this country feels every day.”
The photo includes an aerial shot of a street filled with people, many holding banners and flags, and the noise of a crowd chanting something indecipherable.
The video then cuts to an interview with a man who appears to be standing in front of demonstrators holding a placard, saying: “Honestly, the bills are through the roof. Energy, food, everything. On the other hand, the immigration system is too open. People are deeply frustrated. This government is failing us.”
Although the video’s caption mentions 2025, the clip itself was shared on May 21 of this year.
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The post comes just days after the Kingdom Unity march and rally in central London on May 16, organized by Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon).
However, this video is not authentic and does not depict a genuine protest, a moment of Kingdom Unity Rally, or ordinary people in real pain.
Full Fact confirmed that both the video and audio contained SynthID, an invisible watermark added to content created with Google or OpenAI tools.
During the interview, when the footage is slowed down, the flags in the background appear to morph and glitch into each other, indicating that the footage is AI-generated.
We found no other videos matching the footage shared or instances reported by reliable news sources.
Aerial images of the protests look similar to central London, but they do not correspond in any way to the rally’s published route or to its actual location within the capital.
We previously fact-checked other images and videos claiming to be from protests in the UK, which we found were also created using AI.
Before sharing content like this that you see on social media, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a verifiable and trustworthy source. Our Full Fact toolkit and guide to identifying AI content can help you do this.
