After South Korea was hit with a lovebug infestation, social media posts and information experiences shared a video falsely claiming it confirmed a flock of sparrows consuming the bugs on a mountain in Incheon, west of the capital Seoul. However the clip was made with AI.
“Breaking information. A predator of lovebugs has lastly appeared! The lovebugs blanketing the complete mountain are defenceless earlier than this military of sparrows?! Watch the video to see these sparrows, true lifesavers in motion!” reads a Korean-language submit shared on Threads on July 3.
The eight-second video seems to indicate a mountain coated in black-coloured bugs and a swarm of sparrows preying on them.
Screenshot of the false Threads submit captured on July 28, 2025, with a crimson X added by AFP
The declare surfaced on-line when the Asian nation was grappling with a lovebug invasion between late June and July, which consultants say highlights worsening local weather change (archived hyperlink).
First recognized in South Korea a decade in the past, Seoul and close by cities at the moment are yearly hit by a weeks-long infestation of the Plecia nearctica insect, a kind of March fly nicknamed “lovebug” for his or her distinctive mating behaviour, which sees them fly round in coupled pairs.
Complaints in regards to the bugs, which scientists imagine got here from southern China and have surged with rising temperatures linked to local weather change, have risen sharply, Seoul metropolis information confirmed.
Movies of big clouds of lovebugs blanketing mountain trails drew worldwide media consideration earlier this month, as they go away behind rotting black stays and a foul stench after dying (archived hyperlink).
The clip was shared alongside related claims elsewhere on Threads, X, Instagram and Fb.
“By no means thought I might see the day I am rooting for sparrows,” one responded, whereas one other misled person stated, “Nature’s self-control capability is outstanding”.
South Korean information retailers together with SBS and YTN featured the clip in experiences suggesting that predators of lovebugs could be rising, however have since deleted them.
AI-generated
The video has a transparent “Veo” watermark within the backside proper nook, though it has been cropped out in some posts.
The identify refers to Google’s new AI-powered video creation software, which permits customers to generate realistic-looking footage presently restricted to eight seconds lengthy — the identical because the clip shared in false posts (archived hyperlink).
Screenshots of the Threads video with the ‘Veo’ watermark (left) and the Fb submit, taken on July 28, 2025
An in depth inspection of the video additionally reveals telltale indicators of AI era, together with a hen that seems to emerge from the bottom earlier than disappearing in a number of seconds.
One other hen pops up out of skinny air across the two-second mark.
Screenshots of the false video, with visible inconsistencies highlighted by AFP
Though generative AI know-how is bettering quickly, figuring out visible inconsistencies stays one of the simplest ways to tell apart fabricated content material from real supplies.
Park Hyeon-cheol, a professor at Pusan Nationwide College’s Division of Life Science and Environmental Biochemistry, stated sparrows can’t be thought of main predators of lovebugs (archived hyperlink).
“Sparrows primarily feed on grains and solely eat bugs briefly throughout their breeding season,” he advised AFP on July 28, including there aren’t sufficient sparrows in large cities like Seoul to maintain the bugs in test.
“Lovebug infestations principally have an effect on the capital area, however sparrows are scarce there,” Park stated, noting the bugs naturally die off in about 10 days.
“Given the quick breeding season and the restricted variety of sparrows, how a lot can they actually feed earlier than the lovebugs die?”
AFP has fact-checked different misinformation about lovebugs in South Korea.
