Fake AI videos depict large crowds of Muslims praying in London streets

23 April 2026

What was claimed

Videos show large groups of Muslims praying in the middle of London streets.

Our verdict

These videos are fake. They have been generated with artificial intelligence (AI).

Fake videos which appear to show Muslims praying in the middle of London streets have been gaining traction online.

The clips, which have been shared on Facebook, also feature audio in the background that sounds like someone saying “Allahu Akbar” on a loudspeaker.

A screenshot of the video with overlaid text saying 'fake'.

The videos have generated hundreds of negative comments from people who seem to believe they are real.

But they aren’t genuine, and have been created with artificial intelligence (AI).

We found that each of the four videos contains SynthID, an invisible watermark added to content created or edited with Google’s AI tools, in both their visuals and the audio.

While the presence of a watermark can't tell us whether AI was used to completely generate something new or modify existing content, other clues suggest these videos were almost certainly wholly generated with AI.

Text on the shopfronts and buses is garbled and some of the flags distort throughout the video. People and vehicles also regularly glitch.

Before sharing content like this which you might come across on social media, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a reliable and trustworthy source. Our Full Fact toolkit contains guides and tips on how to spot whether something might be AI generated.

Related topics

Islam News Social media London Religion

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