Explosion Near the Pentagon?

It’s time for a fact check!

Breaking reports early Monday morning about an explosion near the Pentagon in Washington D.C. went viral.

Dozens of social media accounts shared the breaking reports, including Indian-based Republic TV which has 2.8 million followers.

However, it turns out the breaking reports were completely fake.

Apparently, the false reports spread via an AI-generated photo faking an explosion near the Pentagon.

So @republic aired a 'Live & Breaking' news of Pentagon explosion image. They even invited Prof. Madhav Nalapat "strategic expert" to discuss about the explosion.
BWT, It was an AI generated image. pic.twitter.com/8j1nfSJR6x

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 22, 2023

Republic said it cited a now-deleted post and picture tweeted by RT.

“Republic had aired news of a possible explosion near the Pentagon citing a post & picture tweeted by RT. RT has deleted the post and Republic has pulled back the newsbreak,” Republic tweeted.

Republic had aired news of a possible explosion near the Pentagon citing a post & picture tweeted by RT. RT has deleted the post and Republic has pulled back the newsbreak

— Republic (@republic) May 22, 2023

Arlington Fire & EMS confirmed there was no explosion near the Pentagon.

“@PFPAOfficial and the ACFD are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon. There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public,” Arlington Fire & EMS tweeted.

@PFPAOfficial and the ACFD are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon. There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public. pic.twitter.com/uznY0s7deL

— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) May 22, 2023

The fake reports spread far enough to where it caused a brief dip in the markets.

The market recovered soon after the reports were confirmed fake.

🚨 Fake Pentagon explosion image caused the 😮💣 S&P 500 to plunged 30 points, $500B market swing! 😱💸 Once confirmed fake, market bounced back! 📈💪
AI can be dangerous ! Be cautious! 🤖🚫 #FakeImageShock #MarketWhirlwind #StayAlert pic.twitter.com/SEu26KuoeE

— 3 STOCKS A DAY (@3Stocksaday) May 22, 2023

This morning, an AI generated image of an explosion at the US Pentagon surfaced.

With multiple news sources reporting it as real, the S&P 500 fell 30 points in minutes.

This resulted in a $500 billion market cap swing on a fake image.

It then rebounded once the image was… pic.twitter.com/DpHgflkMXP

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) May 22, 2023

Today we got the first glimpse of the dangers of AI and social media

An image was released on twitter stating there was an explosion near the Pentagon 🤦‍♂️

News spread quickly and over $500 million was sold off from the S&P 500 in minutes

This is just the beginning 🫣 pic.twitter.com/wYvjegNFQW

— Mohegan ₿TC 🎲 (@MoheganBTC) May 22, 2023

A fake Bloomberg account with a Verified Blue Check on Twitter posted an apparently AI-generated picture of an explosion at the Pentagon this morning.

There was no explosion at the Pentagon, but the stock market still dipped.https://t.co/RCWKQwjgU1

— follow @bencollins on bluesky (@oneunderscore__) May 22, 2023

Business Insider reported:

While it hasn’t been confirmed whether the image was made using AI tools, it does feature some of the hallmarks of AI-generated images. The columns on the supposed building in the hoax photo vary in size, for example, and the fence appears to blend into the sidewalk in some places.

The photo was spread by dozens of accounts on social media, including RT, a Russian state-media Twitter account with more than 3 million followers — but the post has since been deleted. Most other accounts that retweeted the image appear to be affiliated with conspiracies or the war in Ukraine.

Information about the purported explosion was shared by the Twitter account @DeItaone at 10:06 a.m. ET. By 10:10, the market had fallen 0.26% but quickly bounced back.

DeItaone later posted that news of the explosion was fake.