Pro-Taiwan AI video shared as real incident online - Yahoo
An AI-generated video purporting to show a Meituan delivery driver in Shanghai expressing support for Taiwan was widely shared online as a genuine event.
- Incident date
- May 2026
- Target
- Meituan
A 10-second AI-generated video spread online, falsely presented as a real incident of a Meituan delivery driver in Shanghai voicing support for Taiwan. The video, which first appeared on YouTube in January 2026, gained traction again in April and May across multiple social media platforms.
What happened
The video shows a man in a yellow jacket, holding a Taiwanese flag in front of Shanghai's Oriental Pearl TV Tower. He shouts a pro-Taiwan message and is then seemingly detained by uniformed officers. The video was shared with claims that the man was a Meituan rider arrested for his actions. However, the video is synthetic. The YouTube account that initially shared the clip regularly posts AI-generated content about Taiwanese politics and had labeled the video as such. Further analysis revealed inconsistencies, such as the flag disappearing and reappearing, and the uniform logo not matching Meituan's official logo. The skyline in the video also doesn't align with the actual street view of the Bund in Shanghai. An AI detection tool confirmed a very high likelihood of the video being AI-generated.