By Fathima Kadhija Mohamed*
TOKYO | 26 December 2025 (IDN) — The recent rise in natural disasters worldwide has inflicted serious damage on infrastructure and economies across several nations—from typhoons and floods devastating South Asia and Africa to wildfires in Iran, Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean, and spontaneous earthquakes across Asia.
Yet while these disasters are terrifying enough, a parallel crisis has emerged: an overwhelming surge of misinformation flooding social media platforms relied upon by millions for real-time updates.
In moments of disaster, some individuals have turned to artificial intelligence to create “deepfakes” depicting fabricated, heart-wrenching scenes of devastation. According to the European Data Protection Supervisor, deepfakes involve “the manipulation or artificial generation of audio, video, or other forms of digital content to make it appear that a particular event occurred.”
In many cases, these fabrications have caused more confusion and damage than the disasters themselves. False emergency communications, the spread of fake news within and beyond affected regions, the disruption of aid and volunteer efforts, psychological distress among viewers, and a growing mistrust of the media all contribute to a severe erosion of public confidence.
When Fake News Fuels Real Danger
This July, following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula that triggered tsunami alerts across Japan, Hawaii, and parts of the Pacific, deepfake videos of massive tsunami waves rapidly circulated online. Adding to the chaos, Grok—an AI chatbot on the platform X—reportedly misled users by claiming that tsunami alerts had been cancelled.
Although the tsunami resulted in only one recorded fatality among thousands evacuated, blind reliance on such misinformation could easily have produced far worse outcomes.
The ripple effects extended far beyond disaster zones. During floods in Sri Lanka caused by Tropical Cyclone Ditwah, overseas Sri Lankans—many relying on media updates to learn about their loved ones—were confronted with a flood of deepfake content. Influencers on platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram actively worked to debunk false videos, urging users to question what they see and warning creators about the harm to public trust.
These deepfakes ranged from seemingly harmless videos of animals clinging to each other in floodwaters to fabricated vlogs of women escaping submerged homes.
When Reality Is Dismissed as Fiction
The saturation of deepfake content has produced an unintended consequence: genuine reporting is now frequently dismissed as artificial. During the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, a disturbing image of mud-covered, drowned bodies piled on a road in Sri Lanka’s Gampola region went viral.
Many viewers immediately rejected the image as AI-generated, unwilling to accept its horrific reality. However, multiple AI detection tests confirmed the photograph’s authenticity, eyewitnesses corroborated the scene, and the Officer-in-Charge of the Gampola Police Station officially verified that the victims were residents.
This growing instinct to deny reality highlights a dangerous shift in which truth itself becomes suspect.
Ethics, Exploitation, and Emotional Harm
The motives behind creating such harmful content are varied but often profit-driven. High engagement enables creators to generate advertising revenue, whereas malicious actors exploit crises through fake fundraisers, phishing links, and clickbait-based cyberattacks. Over time, these schemes discourage charitable giving and deepen public cynicism—even toward legitimate aid efforts.
Beyond financial harm, the emotional toll is severe. After Hurricane Helene in the United States last October, a viral image of a young girl clutching a puppy as floodwaters rose caused widespread distress. Although it was later identified as a deepfake due to anatomical errors, the emotional damage inflicted on viewers could not be undone.
If such content continues unchecked, the consequences may be catastrophic. People may become paralysed by uncertainty, dismiss real warnings, or grow emotionally numb. In a natural disaster, hesitation or disbelief can mean the difference between life and death.
Artificial intelligence is an extraordinary tool, offering benefits across education, work, and daily life. But its power demands responsibility. Applying ethical judgment and human discernment is essential—especially when reality itself is at stake.
*Fathima Kadhija Mohamed is an undergraduate student at the School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo. She is scheduled to graduate in March 2028 and plans to specialise in International Relations. [IDN/InDepthNews]