What was claimed
Images show men in balaclavas slashing ‘migrant dinghies’.
Our verdict
These pictures aren’t real. There are a number of visual clues which suggest they were very likely made using artificial intelligence (AI).
Fake pictures of ‘British vigilantes’ slashing small boats shared online
Pictures shared widely on social media appear to show men wearing balaclavas slashing ‘migrant dinghies’, while fires rage in the background.
The posts talk about “British vigilantes” taking action against migrant crossings. Although it is true that some British groups have recently travelled to France to destroy small boats heading for the UK, the dramatic images of masked people wielding bats or knives on a beach aren’t real and a number of visual clues suggest they were probably made using artificial intelligence (AI), including inconsistencies in how the water and flames look.
Analysis by the human rights non-profit WITNESS’s Deepfakes Rapid Response Force highlighted the strange texture of the water by the shore in the top image in this post as evidence.
The top picture appears to show a man able to stand in the water right next to people who are waist-deep, which doesn’t seem possible, and people's bodies seem to merge, especially in the bottom image where it's hard to tell when one person ends and the other begins.
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Although one post contains a real screengrab from a video of ‘Raise the Colours’ activists digging up a migrant boat engine hidden on a French beach, and a genuine photo of migrants on a small boat in the Channel, the larger bottom image has also likely been made with AI.
Again, there are inconsistencies with the flames, the shape of the boat in the foreground, the face shape of one masked man in the background, and the body shape of another man on the right of the picture.
The French interior ministry recently banned 10 Raise the Colours activists from France after they tried to stop migrant crossings. The department said the group’s actions were likely to cause “serious disturbances to public order”.
Raise the Colours said it had always maintained that its activities must remain peaceful and within the law and it “does not support violence or any unlawful activity”.
France agreed to start intercepting small boats in the Channel in November 2025 after pressure from the UK. Officials said they made their first interception on the water on 17 January.
Before sharing images you see on social media, think about whether they are genuine. Our toolkits on how to identify misleading media and AI-generated content can help.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as altered because the images of masked men slashing boats on a beach aren’t real and were probably made with AI.