Is a video that shows UFOs or drones in Maryland in December 2024 authentic? No, that's not true: The creator of the video admitted he "made a fake UFO video with AI." The original video is listed on the creator's account on TikTok under the tab "AI creations" and is set to music from the TV show "The X-Files."
The claim appeared in a video on TikTok on December 15, 2024 (archived here) with the following description:
UFO UAP DRONE SIGHTING UPLOADED FROM MARYLAND #dronevideo #alieninvasion #FYP #UFO #ALIENS #trending #UAP #DRONE
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thurs Dec 19 22:17:27 2024 UTC)
The original video was posted on TikTok (archived here) on December 14, 2024, by Joey Malinski, the owner of ATB Productions (archived here), a video production company. It was 10 seconds long with the theme music from the supernatural TV show "The X-Files" (archived here) and the caption on the video, "Now they are over Maryland!😳😳"
@joeymalinski Near my house in Cockeysville, MD. Horrible name for a town I know.
♬ The X Files Theme - John Beal
I made a fake UFO video with AI, got millions of views, and here's what I learned.
@joeymalinski Ai is real, are UFOs? #aivideos ♬ original sound - Joey Malinski
Lead Stories reached out to the Baltimore FBI and a spokesperson responded by telephone on December 19, 2024, but would not comment on the specific video. They sent a statement via email that said:
FBI Baltimore is aware of recent sightings of possible drones flying over Maryland and Delaware. As always, suspicious or criminal activity can be reported to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitted online at tips.fbi.gov.
Other Lead Stories fact checks regarding drones can be found here.
