AI-generated false burial rumor and deepfake images spread online
A Weibo user created a hoax claiming a person was buried alive on February 23, 2025, falsely presenting themselves as a time traveler and combining AI-generated content with unrelated bloody images from a 2024 school incident. The user later admitted the rumor was fictional; authorities stated it violated multiple laws and disrupted social order.
What happened
A Weibo user with an IP address from Gansu province created a false rumor claiming a person named Qin Yueqing was buried alive on February 23, 2025, presenting themselves as a 'time traveler'. The hoax fabricated multiple locations including Chengdu and Guangdong and combined AI-generated content to create panic.
Bloody images circulated with the false rumor were actually from a September 26, 2024 school bullying incident at Hebi technician college in Henan, unrelated to the false burial claim. On February 23, 2025, the Weibo user acknowledged creating the 'time traveler' rumor and stated the Qin Yueqing incident was fictional.
Reported impact
The rumor spread widely online and seriously disrupted social order and damaged the network environment, according to authorities. Some AI systems initially provided responses supporting the false rumor before being corrected by platforms to state no credible evidence exists for the claim.
Index analysis
Toutiao ecology management operational director Han Yutong stated the platform identified AI rumors early and upgraded AI model detection capabilities. The platform established three core governance capabilities including a rumor database, authoritative information source database, and professional review team, processing over 930,000 low-quality AI-generated content items and banning over 29,000 related accounts by end of 2024.
Tsinghua University associate professor Lu Honglei characterized AI rumors as customizable across platforms, channels, time periods and media with low production costs and exponential spread. He noted AI's self-learning and self-reinforcement properties combined with AI-generated image forgery made rumors increasingly realistic, describing this as an 'evolution crisis' requiring special attention.
Governance controls
Lu Honglei cited Toutiao's four-part defense system of content management policy, content review, rumor correction education, and internal-external coordination as providing a viable development path for AI rumor governance. He recommended platforms act as technology gatekeepers, strengthen cross-platform rumor correction cooperation, establish 'fact verification quick channels', and increase public rumor-fighting awareness.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.