A while back, we pondered whether the videos WorldNetDaily promoted of various people of color complaining that welfare benefits were running out during the federal shutdown were artificially generated, since they conveniently fed WND’s agenda not only criticizing welfare in general but also portraying black people as heavily dependent on government benefits yet feeling entitled to have them. It turns out that a much larger news operation got caught using AI videos of supposed welfare recipients who felt entitled, and Newsmax documented it in a Nov. 2 article:
Fox News has come under fire after admitting it mistakenly reported on AI-generated videos that falsely depicted recipients of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) complaining about benefits being disrupted during the ongoing government shutdown.
The network’s original story, headlined “SNAP beneficiaries threaten to ransack stores over government shutdown,” featured several purported interviews with outraged food-assistance recipients.
However, many of those clips were later revealed to be fabricated using artificial intelligence.
Following the backlash, Fox changed the headline to “AI videos of SNAP beneficiaries complaining about cuts go viral,” and added an editor’s note acknowledging that some videos “appear to have been generated by AI.”
The error drew widespread criticism from journalists and commentators.
WND has never proven the veracity of the videos it promoted. Quite the opposite — Joe Kovacs published a Nov. 5 article purporting to show how “another black woman has posted an unnerving video online demonstrating how easy it is to steal groceries from a supermarket in a white neighborhood.” As before, Kovacs made no effort to demonstrate the veracity of this video; instead, he repeated the purported contents of earlier videos: “This comes on the heels of other women urging folks to steal at will, and one even threatening to hunt down, roast and eat white people if government assistance is taken away.”
Kovacs cited only his fellow right-wing activists to back up his claims — which ignores Newsmax’s finding of Fox News falling for the same fake AI videos.
Meanwhile, medical news site KFF also called out the fake videos and how they have been used:
[T]hese AI-generated videos gave new reach to decades-old myths that people who receive benefits from SNAP and other government assistance are taking advantage of these programs and choosing not to work. The AI-generated videos predominantly depicted Black women arguing with retail employees about their benefits, stealing from grocery stores, or boasting about receiving public assistance while unemployed. KFF’s monitoring of social media identified several examples of these videos posted throughout the shutdown that accumulated millions of views within days. Many of the videos contained indicators that the content was AI-generated, such as mismatched audio-visual sync.
Because other outlets have treated these fake videos as true, it’s up to Kovacs and WND to prove that the videos they are promoting are not fake — and, if they are, to properly apologize.