Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A VIDEO WHICH appears to show the Ukrainian flag flying from the torch of the Statue of Liberty is fake and has been created using AI.
The video appeared on numerous social media platforms, including Facebook, X, TikTok at the start of March.
It appears to show workers attaching the Ukrainian national flag to the torch of the Statue of Liberty in New York.
One post of the video from 3 March has been shared over a thousand times on Facebook and received over 8,000 likes. Other versions have also been shared multiple times across other social media channels.
You can view a version of the video here:
Zelensky The President Of America has raised a flag on the Statue Of Ukrainian Liberty In New York. pic.twitter.com/hnLBmUxIiT
— Bricktop_NAFO (@Bricktop_NAFO) March 3, 2025
However, there are numerous indications that the video is fake, however. The content of video in particular contains numerous clues that it is not real.
The above version shows two cuts, as though the clip was filmed from the air by a drone.
The first cut features a worker dressed in a yellow uniform with a white safety helmet, who appears to affix a flag to the statue. However, the second cut shows three workers in yellow or orange hard hats working on the flag.
The part of the Statue of Liberty that contains the “flame” of the torch is also missing in the video. In the first cut, a logo appears on the Ukrainian flag momentarily before disappearing, indicating that it was a glitch in the generation.
Finally, a ‘Sora’ watermark is visible in the bottom right corner. This indicates that the video was created using OpenAI’s text-to-video model, Sora.
As well as this, a version of the video has appeared on TikTok where it was marked as AI content.
Outside the video itself, there have been no credible reports or official statements that the flag would be hoisted on the Statue of Liberty.
The National Park Service, the US agency which manages the monument, made no announcements that the flag would be flown on the Statue of Liberty.
There are also no credible news reports that the flag was flown from the statue – or that there were plans to do this in early March.
The Journal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.
have your say