6 events in Passaic County with a date

Fact or AI?

War videos blur truth in Iran conflict

By: Hannan Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Iran strikes a U.S. Navy fleet in the waters off Bahrain. Missiles land in a densely populated area in Tel Aviv. emergency workers find the body of Iran's supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenie, killed in air strikes, lying in rubble.
..... These images and videos, viewed millions of times on social media were made with artificial intelligence tools, fact-checking organizations have found.
..... They are just a few of the fake posts that have flooded social media since the United States and Israel bomb Iran a week ago, [02/28/2026] in a war that continues to escalate and pull in other Middle Eastern countries.
..... Such content has blurred fact and fiction, said experts, who urged the public to use caution and do research when veining and sharing Online news.
..... today, [03/08/2026] it is much harder to detect AI content, even compared to a year ago, said Katie Elson Anderson, a reference and instruction librarian at Rutgers University. It can be produced more rapidly and lacks the odd details that were deed giveaways of AI before, like a hand with six fingers.
..... "With the sophistication of AI video now, it's impossible to determine at first glance [if it;s fake]," said Anderson, who researches digital media, social media trends and information literacy. "You have to look at everything much more critically than ever before.
..... The spread of false information can have 'catastrophic consequence,"Anderson warned. "disinformation is there to sway people's opinion and it's coming from all directions," she said. "In this case, we are dealing with the fact that we are not always privy to information from other countries. It just feeds on itself. If we aren't informed with facts, then that's going to change how people react to current events, how people vote and how decisions are made."
..... The U.S. and Israel jointly struck Iran on February 28, [2026] killing Iran's supreme leader and dozens of other officials. The death toll in Iran included at least 1,168 civilians as of March 6, [2026] according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Dozens have also been killed in Israel, Lebanon, Bahrain and Kuwait, plus six U.S. soldiers.
...... In the modern era, experts warn of digital "fog of war" - a term transitionally associated with the confusion that can arise from the chaos of the battlefield and cloud decision making.
..... Today, political entities and activists manipulate content to promote their narrative or agenda. Often, social media users share content without realizing that it is fake or misattributed. That's especially true when it aligns with their biases or when it evokes a strong emotional reaction, said Ali Motamedi, assistant professor in the school of Communication and Information a Rutgers University - New Brunswick.
..... Iran's state-run media has had a heavy hand in spreading false information, Motamedi said. A native of Iran, he has watched the state promote videos showing purported war victims who appeared in other videos, suggesting they were actors, he said.
..... "We need to be more mindful," Motamedi said. "Don't believe any of it easily or quickly. think about the source. Is this page trustworthy? does it make sense with the time and location?
..... "Does it make sense, the timing and the rationale behind it, especially with the Islamic Republic regime of Iran?"
..... For the general public, the confusion is worsened by the lack of timely and accurate information about the war. Iran has imposed a near-total ban on Internet and phone service. Journalists face systematic censorship. Israel and Gulf nations have also censored reporting on the Iran war.

No more third party checking

..... Social media platforms Meta and X dropped third-party fact checking in favor of community notes i 2025. but it can be hard to keep up with the rapid spread of false information, Anderson said. Social media users unfamiliar with Iran are unlikely to detect red flags, she added, like if an image or video was taken at different place or time than stated.
..... "We're being misinformed because we are not informed enough,"Anderson said. That uncertainly can make people distrustful of even legitimate content. For instance, a viral Online post falsely claimed hat the strikes on an Iranian girl's primary school that killed 185 students and teachers was actually footage from a prior incident in Pakistan.

How to tell real from fake

..... Anderson urged people to take a critical look when consuming images Online and not rush to conclusions.
..... "Stop and ask yourself if this is real," she conditioned. "Should I shear this? Where is it coming from? You have to investigate the source. Is this a credible source? Is it only being shared by one person? Is it one random account from X? Make sure it appears in other places and that the source has been verified."
..... People should also speak out if they see fake information. "Be that person to do the fact check," Anderson said. "when y9ouo see that crazy aunt posting something that is wrong, call it out. Without that, it continues to spread."
..... The same kind of crucial eye should be applied to all media, said Motamedi. He recommends that media consumers do "cross validation," checking different sources for information to see if it's true and to get different perspectives.
..... "Don't trust the first thing you see from any source," she said, "even if it's something from big mainstream media you have been following. Look at the bias of each organization. Some have more and some have less bias. Use different sources of information and come up with the answer yourself. That is the best and purest answer."

Source of information

..... AI detects, reverse image searches and fact checking by media organizations can help a viewer verify if a video or picture is real.
..... They include fact-checking websites like Lad Stories, Snopes, PolititFAct and FactCheck.org . News organizations including USA today, the Washington Post and Reuters also perform fact checking and publish results Online.
..... People can also use reverse image searches like Google Images and TimEye to detect if content is AI-cerated or check the source and location of the original image.
..... DeepFake-O-Meter and TrueMedia can be sued for detecting AI-generated photoed, videos and voices. another site, Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector, analyzes audio to determine if the voice is cerated by AI or human.

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