It is being analyzed that platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and X are taking advantage of the ineffective content moderation to spread false and misleading information.
What you should know
Four days ago, US President Donald Trump announced that US forces had taken Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores into custody, and social media has been flooded with disinformation. Synthetic images and videos created by AI are still being widely shared on the internet.
Such content shows Maduro being arrested by US agents or surrounded by soldiers. Although Google DeepMind’s SynthID technology confirmed that the images were created by AI, they have been viewed millions of times on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and X. According to an analysis by
Wired, some social media users have spread misleading information to increase their popularity during such major global events. When technology companies are not diligent in content moderation, false and misleading information is often taken advantage of. “Major platforms like TikTok, Instagram and X have not been able to take effective steps to stop such false content,” David Gilbert wrote in Wired.
Regarding Maduro, some have re-edited old videos from 2024 and posted them, misinterpreting them as celebrations in the Venezuelan capital after his ouster. Accounts such as ‘Defense Intelligence’ have also promoted old footage posted on TikTok in 2025 as a US attack on Caracas. These posts have more than 2 million views.
A widely shared photo shows Maduro in white pajamas inside a military plane. The photo has been confirmed to be AI-generated. According to a photo posted by US President Trump on ‘Truth Social’, Maduro was taken by helicopter to the ‘USS Iwo Jima’ (battleship). He was wearing a gray tracksuit, goggles and headphones.
Another viral photo claimed to show a US soldier posing with a masked Maduro. Fact-checking organization NewsGuard confirmed that the photo was not related to Venezuela but was an old photo from the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Misinformation has also been spread before during the Israel-Hamas war or attacks on Iran's nuclear sites. Journalist Gilbert's analysis shows that old footage and AI-generated images are being presented as real news due to social media algorithms and weak moderation that continue to spread content that is viewed more often.
During the 2016 Brexit, the 2020 US presidential election, and the 2019 COVID pandemic, false and misleading information was spread more widely on social media. The United Nations' 'Global Risk Report 2024' has identified false and misleading information as one of the three main challenges to sustainability. The first is climate change, the second is pollution, and the third is false and misleading information.
'Countries have not prepared themselves to address this challenge. More than 1,100 experts from 136 countries have listed false and misleading information as a serious risk, and more than 80 percent say it is already happening,' wrote Carolina G. Azevedo, a senior communications expert at the United Nations. 'False information creates distrust in the media, governments, and scientific facts. When people cannot distinguish between what is true and what is false, confusion and chaos increase in society.'
