Some of the videos have been AI-generated, while others have been miscaptioned.
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00:00Santorini has been targeted by fake volcano eruption videos.
00:09The Greek island of Santorini has fallen victim to a series of false viral videos which allegedly
00:14show the popular holiday destination engulfed in lava.
00:18The videos have mostly been published on TikTok and have amassed thousands of views, shares
00:23and likes.
00:24They have also received thousands of comments.
00:26And while many rightly question the video's authenticity, many appear to believe what
00:31they pretend to depict.
00:33This one for example shows lava streaming down the cliffside into the sea, while volcanoes
00:38explode across the mountain.
00:40This one shows crowds fleeing in terror as fires rage against the backdrop of Santorini's
00:45iconic white buildings and blue roofs.
00:48And this one portrays smoke billowing from an island, captioned as Santorini, as if an
00:53eruption had just occurred there.
00:55However, various clues show that the first two of these videos were AI generated.
01:00In the first one, the sea looks artificial and doesn't behave as you might expect water
01:05to react to lava and crashing against the rocks.
01:08The colours are saturated and at times a boat sail blends into the buildings, while another
01:13boat seemingly covered in lava sails past.
01:16In the second video, the people running away are distorted.
01:20They dissolve, blend into each other and have blurred faces.
01:23The third video isn't AI generated, but doesn't depict Santorini at all.
01:28Not only are the blue roof buildings missing, but the geography of the island is completely
01:33different.
01:34A reverse image search shows us that the video actually depicts Wakari, or White Island,
01:39in New Zealand.
01:40Additionally, claims have circulated that Turkey is behind the videos to try and damage
01:45Santorini's tourism industry, but there's zero evidence that this is the case.
01:50The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism hasn't responded to our requests for comment
01:54as of the time of recording.