A fake image of an alleged explosion near the US Pentagon in Washington DC caused a brief disturbance through the US stock market.
An image of black smoke billowing next to a bureaucratic-looking building started doing the rounds across social media on Monday. The post claimed that it was an explosion near the Pentagon.
News outlets outside the US were quick to run images before officials jumped in to clarify that no blast actually took place and the photo was a fake.
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense and fake news of an attack sent a brief shiver through the stock market.
Police and fire officials in Arlington, Virginia, where the Pentagon is located clarified that the image was not real and there was no incident at the nation’s defense headquarters.
Experts say the viral image had telltale signs that it was forged using AI, highlighting the threat of spreading misinformation with easy-to-access technology.
The misleading image was circulated by outlets including RT, a Russian government-backed media company formerly known as Russia Today.
It was also widely shared in investment circles, including an account with a verified blue tick on Twitter, falsely suggesting it was associated with Bloomberg News.
‘Reports of an explosion near the Pentagon in Washington DC,’ the Russian state news agency tweeted to its more than three million followers.
The tweet has since been deleted.
The timing of the fake image, which appeared to spread widely just after the US stock market opened for trading at 9.30 am was enough to send a ripple through the investment world.
The S&P 500 briefly dropped a modest 0.3% as social media accounts and investment websites popular with day traders repeated the false claims.
Other investments also moved in ways that typically occur when fear enters the market. Prices for US Treasury bonds and gold, for example, briefly began to climb, suggesting investors were looking for someplace safer to park their money.
The Arlington County Fire Department took to take to social media to debunk the news.
‘@PFPAOfficial and the ACFD are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon,’ the agency wrote, referring to the acronym for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency that polices the Pentagon. ‘There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public.’
Capt. Nate Hiner, a spokesperson for the fire department, confirmed the agency’s tweet was authentic but declined to comment further, deferring to the Pentagon police force, which didn’t respond to the AP’s email and phone messages.
Misinformation experts say the fake image was likely created using generative AI programs that have created eerily realistic but flawed images that have gone viral on the internet.
Inconsistencies in the building, fence and surrounding area are imperfections typically found in AI-generated images, noted Hany Farid, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in digital forensics, misinformation and image analysis.
‘Specifically, the grass and concrete fade into each other, the fence is irregular, there is a strange black pole that is protruding out of the front of the sidewalk but is also part of the fence,’ he told the AP.
‘The windows in the building are inconsistent with photos of the Pentagon that you can find online.’
In March, AI-generated deepfakes showing Donald Trump being arrested went viral on Twitter following news of the former president’s possible indictment.
MORE : Fake AI-generated images claiming to show Trump’s arrest go viral
MORE : Deepfakes of Zendaya and Selena Gomez at the Met Gala confuse fans
