#FactCheck-AI-generated video of ‘giant hailstorm in Maharashtra’ falsely shared as real weather event
Executive Summary
A video showing unusually large hailstones falling from the sky and damaging parked vehicles is being widely circulated on social media. Users are claiming that the video shows a severe hailstorm in Maharashtra amid the ongoing heatwave conditions in several parts of the country. CyberPeace Research Wing research found the claim to be false. The viral clip is not a real weather event and has been identified as AI-generated content.
Claim:
Social media users shared the video claiming it shows heavy hailstorm in Maharashtra, with captions suggesting widespread damage caused by extreme weather. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1741412617041722, https://archive.is/W2QxM
Fact Check:
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video did not yield any credible media reports linking the visuals to any real hailstorm in Maharashtra or elsewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRsWLRowbao
Closer examination of the video revealed multiple inconsistencies, including unnatural movement and unrealistic size and behavior of hailstones, which are commonly associated with AI-generated visuals. The video was further analysed using AI detection tools. Hive Moderation flagged the content as likely AI-generated.
Similarly, Sightengine analysis indicated a 99% probability that the visuals were artificially created.
Conclusion:
The research confirms that the viral video claiming to show a massive hailstorm in Maharashtra is not real. The visuals are AI-generated and do not depict any actual weather event.
Related Blogs
Introduction
A bill requiring social media companies, providers of encrypted communications, and other online services to report drug activity on their platforms to the U.S. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) advanced to the Senate floor, alarming privacy advocates who claim the legislation transforms businesses into de facto drug enforcement agents and exposes many of them to liability for providing end-to-end encryption.
Why is there a requirement for online companies to report drug activity?
The reason behind the bill is that there was a Kansas teenager died after unknowingly taking a fentanyl-laced pill he purchased on Snapchat. The bill requires social media companies and other web communication providers to provide the DEA with users’ names and other information when the companies have “actual knowledge” that illicit drugs are being distributed on their platforms.
There is an urgent need to look into this matter as platforms like Snapchat and Instagram are the constant applications that netizens use. If these kinds of apps promote the selling of drugs, then it will result in major drug-selling vehicles and become drug-selling platforms.
Threat to end to end encryption
End-to-end encryption has long been criticised by law enforcement for creating a “lawless space” that criminals, terrorists, and other bad actors can exploit for their illicit purposes. End- to end encryption is important for privacy, but it has been criticised as criminals also use it for bad purposes that result in cyber fraud and cybercrimes.
Cases of drug peddling on social media platforms
It is very easy to get drugs on social media, just like calling an Uber. It is that simple to get the drugs. The survey discovered that access to illegal drugs is “staggering” on social media applications, which has contributed to the rising number of fentanyl overdoses, which has resulted in suicide, gun violence, and accidents.
According to another survey, drug dealers use slang, emoticons, QR codes, and disappearing messages to reach customers while avoiding content monitoring measures on social networking platforms. Drug dealers are frequently active on numerous social media platforms, advertising their products on Instagram while providing their WhatApps or Snapchat names for queries, making it difficult for law officials to crack down on the transactions.
There is a need for social media platforms to report these kinds of drug-selling activity on specific platforms to the Drug enforcement administration. The bill requires online companies to report drug cases going on websites, such as the above-mentioned Snapchat case. There are so many other cases where drug dealers sell the drug through Instagram, Snapchat etc. Usually, if Instagram blocks one account, they create another account for the drug selling. Just by only blocking the account does not help to stop drug trafficking on social media platforms.
Will this put the privacy of users at risk?
It is important to report the cybercrime activities of selling drugs on social media platforms. The companies will only detect the activity regarding the drugs which are being sold through social media platforms which are able to detect bad actors and cyber criminals. The detection will be on the particular activities on the applications where it is happening because the social media platforms lack regulations to govern them, and their convenience becomes the major vehicle for the drugs sale.
Conclusion
Social media companies are required to report these kinds of activities happening on their platforms immediately to the Drugs enforcement Administration so that the DEA will take the required steps instead of just blocking the account. Because just blocking does not stop these drug markets from happening online. There must be proper reporting for that. And there is a need for social media regulations. Social media platforms mostly influence people.
Introduction
In a major policy shift aimed at synchronizing India's fight against cyber-enabled financial crimes, the government has taken a landmark step by bringing the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the ambit of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In the notification released in the official gazette on 25th April, 2025, the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, included the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under Section 66 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as “PMLA”). The step comes as a significant attempt to resolve the asynchronous approach of different agencies (Enforcement Directorate (ED), State Police, CBI, CERT-In, RBI) set up under the government responsible for preventing and often possessing key information regarding cyber crimes and financial crimes. As it is correctly put, "When criminals sprint and the administration strolls, the finish line is lost.”
The gazetted notification dated 25th April, 2025, read as follows:
“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (ii) of sub-section (1) of section 66 of the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (15 of 2003), the Central Government, on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest to do so, hereby makes the following further amendment in the notification of the Government of India, in the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, section 3, sub-section (i) vide number G.S.R. 381(E), dated the 27th June, 2006, namely:- In the said notification, after serial number (26) and the entry relating thereto, the following serial number and entry shall be inserted, namely:— “(27) Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).”.
Outrunning Crime: Strengthening Enforcement through Rapid Coordination
The usage of cyberspace to commit sophisticated financial crimes and white-collar crimes is a one criminal parallel passover that no one was looking forward to. The disenchanted reality of today’s world is that the internet is used for as much bad as it is for good. The internet has now entered the financial domain, facilitating various financial crimes. Money laundering is a financial crime that includes all processes or activities that are in connection with the concealment, possession, acquisition, or use of proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted money. In the offence of money laundering, there is an intricate web and trail of financial transactions that are hard to track, as they are, and with the advent of the internet, the transactions are often digital, and the absence of crucial information hampers the evidentiary chain. With this new step, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will now make headway into the investigation with the information exchange under PMLA from and to I4C, removing the obstacles that existed before this notification.
Impact
The decision of the finance ministry has to be seen in terms of all that is happening around the globe, with the rapid increase in sophisticated financial crimes. By formally empowering the I4C to share and receive information with the Enforcement Directorate under PMLA, the government acknowledges the blurred lines between conventional financial crime and cybercrime. It strengthens India’s financial surveillance, where money laundering and cyber fraud are increasingly two sides of the same coin. The assessment of the impact can be made from the following facilitations enabled by the decision:
- Quicker internet detection of money laundering
- Money trail tracking in real time across online platforms
- Rapid freeze of cryptocurrency wallets or assets obtained fraudulently
Another important aspect of this decision is that it serves as a signal that India is finally equipping itself and treating cyber-enabled financial crimes with the gravitas that is the need of the hour. This decision creates a two-way intelligence flow between cybercrime detection units and financial enforcement agencies.
Conclusion
To counter the fragmented approach in handling cyber-enabled white-collar crimes and money laundering, the Indian government has fortified its legal and enforcement framework by extending PMLA’s reach to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C). All the decisions and the brainstorming that led up to this notification are crucial at this point in time for the cybercrime framework that India needs to be on par with other countries. Although India has come a long way in designing a robust cybercrime intelligence structure, as long as it excludes and works in isolation, it will be ineffective. So, the current decision in discussion should only be the beginning of a more comprehensive policy evolution. The government must further integrate and devise a separate mechanism to track “digital footprints” and incorporate a real-time red flag mechanism in digital transactions suspected to be linked to laundering or fraud.
A video circulating on social media claims that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was forcibly thrown out of a pub by its owner. The clip has been widely shared by users, many of whom are drawing political comparisons and questioning democratic norms. However, research conducted by Cyber Peace Foundation has found that the viral claim is misleading. Our research reveals that the video dates back to 2021, a time when Keir Starmer was not the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but the leader of the opposition Labour Party.
Claim
On January 12, 2026, a video was shared on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) with the claim that British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was asked to leave a pub by its owner. The post suggests that the pub owner was unhappy with Starmer’s performance and contrasts the incident with how political dissent is allegedly handled in India. The viral video, approximately 32 seconds long, shows a man angrily confronting Keir Starmer in English, stating that he had supported the Labour Party all his life but was disappointed with Starmer’s leadership. The man is then heard asking Starmer to leave the pub.
Links to the viral post and its archived version were reviewed as part of the research.
Fact Check
To verify the claim, we extracted key frames from the viral video and conducted a Google reverse image search. During this process, we found the same video posted on an X account on April 19, 2021.The visuals in the 2021 post matched the viral video exactly, clearly indicating that the footage is not recent.The original post described the incident as an event involving Labour Party leader Keir Starmer during his visit to the Raven pub in Bath, and included a warning about strong language used by the pub owner, Rod Humphries. Here is the link to the original video, along with a screenshot:
Further keyword searches led us to a report published by NBC News on April 19, 2021. According to the report, Keir Starmer, then the leader of the UK’s opposition Labour Party, was confronted and asked to leave a pub in the city of Bath. The pub owner reportedly accused Starmer of failing to oppose COVID-19 lockdown measures strongly enough at a time when strict restrictions were in place across the UK.
- https://www.nbcnews.com/video/anti-lockdown-pub-landlord-screams-at-u-k-labour-party-leader-to-get-out-of-his-pub-110466117702
We also verified who held the office of British Prime Minister in 2021. Official UK government records confirm that Boris Johnson was the Prime Minister at that time, while Keir Starmer served as the Leader of the Opposition.
Conclusion
Our research confirms that the viral video is old and misleadingly presented. The footage is from 2021, when Keir Starmer was not the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but the opposition Labour Party leader. Sharing the video with the claim that it shows a current British Prime Minister being thrown out of a pub is factually incorrect.
