WHAT WAS CLAIMED
A video shows a group of Muslim men praying on an Australian street.
OUR VERDICT
False. The video is AI-generated.
AAP FACTCHECK - A viral online video claiming to show Muslim men blocking the street while praying is actually AI-generated.
The video contains an invisible watermark, known as Synth ID, indicating it was generated using AI.
It was posted on a Facebook page called Aussie Bulletin, which Meta's page transparency details reveal is managed by a user in Sri Lanka.
The video, which has gained more than 50,000 views, purportedly shows several police officers and pedestrians looking on as a group of Muslim men pray on the street.
The post's caption reads: "Should public prayer be allowed on Australian footpaths and streets as long as it doesn't block pedestrians, or should public thoroughfares remain free from organized religious activities?"
Meta's AI identification tool detects a Synth ID watermark.
The video also contains several visual and logical inconsistencies.
At the start of the clip, a vehicle resembling a Melbourne tram appears to approach three pedestrians walking directly along the tracks.
Two rows of Muslim worshippers are also oddly positioned on the street.
However, the back row overlaps the tram track, placing the worshippers in the path of oncoming traffic.
At the four-second mark, the men's faces become increasingly distorted farther down the row, with some losing their facial features entirely.
Background pedestrians and observing police officers also show blurred or warped faces.
Additionally, text on storefronts and building signage appears distorted, a common issue with AI text generation.
However, comments on the post suggest many viewers believe the video is real.
"No, they should not pray in the street. Go to a park or to their temple," one comment reads.
"Ban it in Australia," another said.
AAP FactCheck previously debunked a similar AI-generated video that falsely claimed to show Muslim men praying on a London tube train.
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