Video claiming to show 500-strong anti-government protest in Birmingham is AI

A video which has gained thousands of reactions on Facebook with claims it shows hundreds gathered for an anti-government protest in Birmingham is fake.

The footage, which appears to have been filmed from the air, shows a large crowd holding banners and Union Jack flags. They appear to have gathered in a public square near the Library of Birmingham which is visible in the background.

It was shared on 20 April with the caption: “More than 500 people have gathered in Birmingham to protest against the government, with demonstrators holding flags and banners as the situation continues to develop.”

But this clip, which has been liked more than 6,800 times, isn’t genuine. It’s been generated with artificial intelligence (AI).

We found both the visuals and the audio, which seems to be noise of a crowd chanting, contain SynthID, an invisible watermark that appears in content created or altered with Google’s AI tools.

The presence of a watermark alone can't tell us whether AI was used to completely generate something new or modify existing content, but in this case there are other clues that strongly suggest the clip was entirely created with AI.

These include buses and cars travelling backwards, nonsensical writing on some of the visible protest signs, and some groups of people appearing to blur and glitch unnaturally.

Additionally the location it seems to depict in central Birmingham doesn’t match the genuine layout and geography of Centenary Square, next to the recognisable Library of Birmingham.

We also couldn’t find any credible reporting of any protest matching this description occurring in Birmingham recently.

And a spokesperson for West Midlands Police told us: “We’re not aware of such a protest happening.”

Before sharing content like this which you may see online, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a genuine and trustworthy source. Our Full Fact toolkit and guides to spotting AI media can help you do this.