The fabricated story was posted on the now-removed TikTok account “Dax News.”
A Viral TikTok video about a man murdering a teen at her prom in Livonia, Michigan, was proven to be fake.
In the now-deleted video, the narrator described a murder that supposedly happened after the Livonia High School prom. According to the video, a man named Douglass Barnes killed a teen girl named Samantha McCaffery as an act of revenge against her father, allegedly a cop, who had killed Barnes’s son several years ago. Livonia police have confirmed the story is fabricated. “It’s not going on in Livonia. It’s fake news going around social media,” Livonia Police told Fox 2 News Detroit.
They also clarified that Livonia High School doesn’t exist in Michigan and that there is no record of a person named Douglass Barnes in the state. A reverse-image search of the photo used in the video linked it to other fake murder stories, suggesting the image might be AI-generated.
Other AI-generated news websites have reposted the story, lending it an appearance of legitimacy.
Earlier this month, the popular social media platform announced it would begin labeling AI-generated content; however, this story had no such label.
AI-generated fake news is a growing problem. A recent study co-authored by researchers from Google, Duke University, and various fact-checking groups found that hoaxes now make up an alarming 60% of all fact-checked claims involving media. Fake news isn’t the only issue caused by AI. Scammers have used the technology to clone voices, deceiving victims into believing they are speaking with someone they know. In April, a former teacher was arrested after investigators discovered he used AI to mimic his former supervisor’s voice in a fake racist rant.
