A viral video is circulating online, claiming to show the aftermath of an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand. This claim comes amid widespread AI-generated images and videos, falsely attributing the recent earthquake in Myanmar to both Myanmar and Thailand, where the tremors were felt.
However, BOOM found that the video was created by an AI visual effects artist and has been online since January 8, 2025.
Myanmar was struck by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake on March 28, 2025, with its epicenter near Mandalay. The quake has claimed over 2,700 lives, severely damaging infrastructure, including the city’s airport. In Thailand, the earthquake's aftershocks have resulted in the deaths of six people, with 100 workers reported missing.
In Bangkok, the earthquake caused the collapse of a 30-storey building under construction, with many workers feared trapped inside.
The misleading viral video shows a massive cloud of water rising from the sea and moving towards residential buildings, falsely portraying the situation in Bangkok.
A Facebook user shared the video, captioning it in Hindi, "Heartbreaking video of earthquake in Bangkok."
Fact-check
To verify the authenticity of the viral video, we conducted a reverse image search on key frames from the footage. This search led us to the original video on Instagram, dated January 8, 2025, with the caption: "Volcanic eruption off the coast of Italy."
The video was shared by the Instagram account stat.us.ai, which, based on the account information, belongs to a professional visual effects artist known for creating and posting similar AI-generated videos.
In addition to the reverse image search, we used AI detection tools to assess the video’s authenticity.
Using the Hive Moderation AI detector, we found a 99.9% probability that the video was AI-generated.
We also checked the keyframes of the video on the AI detector tool called Wasitai . This also showed a strong likelihood of the video being AI generated.