Have you seen the viral videos showing mass protests in the streets of British cities? Lead Stories has spotted several such videos recently and found that many were created using artificial intelligence. These videos do not show real people or situations. Instead, they seek to exploit feelings of sympathy and patriotism by triggering emotions such as indignation and anger among viewers, all to drive social media engagement.
This article is part of a series of stories examining various types of what is commonly called "AI-slop": short, vertical videos generated with artificial intelligence tools with the aim of going viral, often by exploiting the emotions or curiosity of the viewer with made-up content.
What these 'mass protests in the streets of British cities' videos look like
These videos claim to feature real-life examples of mass protests in the streets of British cities. Ultimately, the videos rely on a familiar set of engagement tactics and visual cues -- including prominent Union Jack and St. George's Cross flags, fake television chyrons, vague references to "the current situation in our country," families or attractive women presented as spokespersons, arrows pointing to the "like," "share," "follow" and "bookmark" buttons, and calls for viewers to comment with the name of their city -- to boost credibility, encourage interaction and increase the content's reach.
Some examples
Here is a video uploaded on July 3, 2026, to the TikTok account @chloekensington1 (archived here) that shows live news coverage of a demonstration on the streets of London:
@chloekensington1 #protest #london #unitedkingdom ♬ original sound - chloekensington1
Here is another video uploaded on June 25, 2026, to the TikTok account @mariaclarawellneess (archived here) that shows live TV coverage of a protest on the streets of Birmingham, England:
@mariaclarawellneess #protest #news #opinion #musliim #immigration ♬ original sound - Maria Clara
Here is a video uploaded on May 19, 2026, from the TikTok account @user347570188 (archived here), showing a woman with a child in the middle of a protest somewhere in the United Kingdom. The caption at the top of the video asks: "Are you proud to be British?":
@user347570188 🇬🇧👧🏻🙏🏻#uk #unitedkindom ♬ original sound - .
This video, uploaded on June 5, 2026, to the TikTok account @simonemendesukshop (archived here), shows a pretty woman surrounded by demonstrators in the heart of London. She says, "The United Kingdom needs strong voices," and adds, "If you care about children and families, follow my profile":
@simonemendesukshop 2#election #politicstiktok #unitedkingdom #children #politics #foryour #uknews #lodon #england ♬ original sound - simonemendesukshop
Keywords
Here are hashtags and keywords often associated with videos like these: #Protest, #London, #UnitedKingdom, #UK, #News, #Opinion, #Muslim, #Immigration, #Election, #Politics, #PoliticsTikTok, #Children, #UKNews, #England, #Britain, #British, #Viral, #FYP and #TikTokUK.
How to tell they are false
These videos follow a similar theme. They depict large crowds of people demonstrating across the United Kingdom, while providing only vague explanations of what the protests concern. Sometimes they're called "patriotic demonstrations" to "protest the current situation in the country." Other times they're highlighting "illegal violence and immigration from Muslims."
Here is a screenshot of a video posted on the TikTok account @chloekensington1 that shows the label "Contains AI-generated media," which is circled in red:
(Image source: post by @chloekensington1 on TikTok.)
A second video (archived here), uploaded to the TikTok account @levitam54s on July 1, 2026, has the caption: "London under the spotlight." Its description reads:
From London to every corner of Britain.
Tell us where you're watching from.
One of its hashtags reads:
It is circled in red below:
(Image source: post by @levitam54s on TikTok.)
Other TikTok accounts provide additional reasons to question their veracity. Two found by Lead Stories -- @eder.santos188 (archived here) and @eder.philips.silv (archived here) feature dozens of AI models, but in the middle of their romantic pitches are videos of UK protests:
From @eder.santos188:
(Image source: posts by @eder.santos188 on TikTok.)
From @eder.philips.silv:
(Image source: posts by @eder.philips.silv on TikTok.)
The AI models are flagged "Contains AI-generated media," but there are other clues, too. This particular woman in a post (archived here) from the @eder.santos188 account has three hands:
(Image source: post by @eder.santos188 on TikTok.)
If you see videos like these on social media, here are some things you can try.
First, look for AI-disclaimers added by the platform or the poster. On TikTok they might say "Contains AI-generated media" or "AI-generated" (archived here), on X they read "Made with AI" (archived here) and on Facebook/Instagram they often say "AI info" (archived here). Check the description of the video too: In some cases the creator might have added a note or a hashtag like #AI, #madewithAI or #fiction. Don't forget to check the main page of the account that posted the video either: Maybe there is a disclaimer in the bio. In some cases AI use is really obvious when an account is posting dozens and dozens of variations of the same type of video.
Don't stop at the account that posted the video: Maybe they copied it from somewhere else. Use a tool to take a screenshot of the first frame of the video and run it through a reverse image searching tool to see where else on the internet it appears. It may have originated on an account that posts satire, AI-creations or actual art.
If you are still not sure, try downloading the video itself. There are several AI detection tools that can tell you if there are watermarks or other technical characteristics present in the video that would indicate it was likely made with AI.
Finally, use common sense: if the video shows an event that would otherwise be newsworthy, use a news search engine to check if it has been reported on by a news service you trust. Also pay close attention to the video itself: Look for physical impossibilities or glitches typical of AI-generated footage like:
- People or things appearing (or disappearing) out of thin air
- Objects behaving in physically impossible ways (heavy objects falling slowly, rigid objects bending ...)
- Garbled writing, oddly-shaped letters or signs
- People or objects blending into or moving through each other
- Inconsistencies between different shots of the video (extra architectural elements in buildings, changing backgrounds, differences in clothing or hairstyle)
- An audio track that sounds strange: flat, unnatural speech; scripted-sounding yelling from bystanders ("Did you see that? OMG!"); or sound effects that are out of sync with the events.
Unsure about a video? Email [email protected] and we will take a look!
These materials were developed in 2026 for the Prebunking at Scale project, with support from the European Fact-Checking Standards Network. If you share this on social media, use #prebunkingatscale.
