Did a viral video showing a female soccer player shouting "Free Palestine" and lifting her shirt to reveal a Palestinian flag originate from actual news sources? No, that's not true: It appeared on a TikTok account that published AI generated content in the past. The footage contained several details hinting at an AI origin such as odd lettering, players melting together and discrepancies in the numbers on the shirts and shorts of some of the players.
Before spreading to various other platforms the video appeared on TikTok (archived here) on July 17, 2025 with following description:
Stand for humanity. Stand for Palestine 🇵🇸.. #PalestineWillBeFree #StandWithPalestine #JusticeForPalestine #FYP #TrendingNow #PrayForPalestine #foryoupage #creatorsearchinsights #palestine # #ViralVideo #EmotionalSupport #HopeForGaza
This is what the initial frame of the video looked like:
(Source: screenshot of the @meow.meow9582 account on TikTok taken on Wed Jul 23 11:44:09 2025 UTC)
The account that posted the video (archived here) started off posting AI generated cat videos before switching to pro-Palestinian videos. The last few videos it posted are all about female soccer players, athletes, an "American billionaire" or an astronaut suddenly revealing Palestinian flags.
(Image source: screenshot of the @meow.meow.9582 account on TikTok)
The video itself contained several odd details such as distorted lettering on the stadium awning typical of AI-generated videos, players morphing or melting into each other, several players with different numbers on their shorts compared to their shirts or with a different number on the back and the front of their shirt and the shirt of the player revealing the flag apparently showing an extra collar or sleeve when pulled up.
(Image source: collage made by Lead Stories of details in video posted by @meow.meow.9582 on TikTok)
