Name: How an AI-generated video caused Macron a major headache
Uploaded: 2025-12-23T08:55:13.676Z
Duration: 1 min 48 s
Description: The video rapidly racked up more than 12 million views after it was shared on Facebook.

The video rapidly racked up more than 12 million views after it was shared on Facebook.

Paris

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An AI-generated video falsely claiming the overthrow of French President Emmanuel Macron circulated online, prompting concern from an unnamed African leader who contacted Macron directly. Despite Macron's personal request to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, the video was not immediately removed and remained online for more than a week after its posting on December 9.

The video featured AI-generated news anchors, reportedly created using the tool Sora, and was posted by a Facebook account believed to be operated by a teenager in Burkina Faso who offers AI tutorials for profit. Attempts to reach the account owner have so far been unsuccessful.

How an AI-generated video caused Macron a major headache

How has AI content targeted France's president? France's president Emmanuel Macron discovered his own supposed overthrow after a concerned unnamed African leader reached out to him off the back of the video you have just seen. The thing is, it's AI generated. Although Macron personally asked Meta, which owns Facebook, to take the video down, the organisation did not. The original video was posted on the 9th of December by this Facebook account before being deleted more than a week later. Lots of the AI generated news anchors seem to have been created with the help of Sora. The person running the account appears to be a teenager based in Burkina Faso who makes money from offering AI tutorials. We tried to reach out to them on multiple occasions, but so far our calls have gone unanswered.

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How an AI-generated video caused Macron a major headache

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Rise of AI