Have you seen viral videos showing older veterans being disrespected or bullied by authority figures? Lead Stories has spotted several such videos recently and found that many were created using artificial intelligence. These videos do not show real people or situations. Instead they seek to exploit feelings of sympathy and patriotism by triggering emotions such as indignation and anger among viewers, all to drive social media engagement.
This article is part of a series of stories examining various types of what is commonly called "AI-slop": short, vertical videos generated with artificial intelligence tools with the aim of going viral, often by exploiting the emotions or curiosity of the viewer with made-up content.
What these 'old veterans being disrespected or bullied by authority figures' videos look like
These videos claim to feature real-life examples of older veterans being disrespected or bullied by authority figures. Ultimately, the authority figures are portrayed as being wrong for initially dismissing the person, apparently because of their age or appearance.
Some examples
Here is a video uploaded on May 26, 2026, to the TikTok account @heart.touching.sto4 (archived here) that shows an elderly veteran being prohibited from attending his friend's burial:
@heart.touching.sto4 Military Police Tried to Stop Veteran From Entering His Friend_s Burial. #storytime #racism #blackstories #truestory #americanstory ♬ original sound - Heart Touching Stories
Here is another video uploaded on June 20, 2026, to the TikTok account @weird.creature4 (archived here) that shows an 89-year-old veteran being denied entry to the commissioning of a Navy ship:
@weird.creature4 Navy Officer Stops Veteran From Boarding the Ship _ Until the Admiral Recognized The Patch and Froze. #storytime #truestory #emotionalstory #americanstory #viral ♬ original sound - Trending Stories
Here is a different video posted on the TikTok account @ai_story_146486 (archived here) uploaded on June 2, 2026, that shows an elderly veteran being scoffed at when he tried to withdraw $2 million from a bank:
@ai_story_146486 The entire bank started laughing the moment the old veteran spoke.#story #storytimes #blackstory #trending #unitedstates ♬ original sound - Ai Story
Keywords
Here are hashtags and keywords often associated with videos like these: #storytime, #racism, #blackstories, #truestory, #americanstory, #Trending, #Veteran, #Respect, #Military, #Valor, #Hero, #GoodNews, #EmotionalStory, "veteran denied boarding until patch recognized," "admiral recognizes veteran patch," "emotional military reunion story," "true navy story about veteran," "military patch recognition story," and "veteran identity honored aboard ship."
One clip described an emotional military encounter in which a veteran was stopped while boarding a ship, then recognized and honored by an admiral because of a military patch.
How to tell they are false
These videos follow a similar theme. They depict people dismissing the value of elderly military veterans who have served their country. The antagonists quickly judge them based on their outward appearance and often speak to them in a condescending tone before learning their backstory, after which the veteran regains their dignity.
Here is a screenshot of a video posted on the TikTok account @heart.touching.sto4 that shows the label "Creator labeled as AI-Generated":
(Image source: post by @heart.touching.sto4 on YouTube.)
A second video (archived here) posted on the YouTube account @VeteransValor tells the story an old veteran being bullied by a young corporal. The disclaimer in the post's description reads:
The narratives on this channel are crafted for reflection and inspiration. While they may draw loose inspiration from historical experiences, they are fully fictionalized for storytelling purposes. Names, places, and events are re-imagined; any resemblance to real people or occurrences is purely coincidental. Our sole aim is to share moving tales that spark empathy, gratitude, and deeper understanding.
This is what a screenshot from the video looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @VeteransValor on Truth Social.)
If you see videos like these on social media, here are some things you can try.
First, look for AI-disclaimers added by the platform or the poster. On TikTok they might say "Contains AI-generated media" or "AI-generated" (archived here), on X they read "Made with AI" (archived here) and on Facebook/Instagram they often say "AI info" (archived here). Check the description of the video too: in some cases the creator might have added a note or a hashtag like #AI, #madewithAI or #fiction. Don't forget to check the main page of the account that posted the video either: maybe there is a disclaimer in the bio and in some cases AI use is really obvious when an account is posting dozens and dozens of variations of the same type of video.
Don't stop at the account that posted the video: maybe they copied it from somewhere else. Use a tool to take a screenshot of the first frame of the video and run it through a reverse image searching tool to see where else on the internet it appears. It may have originated on an account that posts satire, AI-creations or actual art.
If you are still not sure, try downloading the video itself. There are several AI detection tools that can tell you if there are watermarks or other technical characteristics present in the video that would indicate it was likely made with AI.
Finally, use common sense: if the video shows an event that would otherwise be newsworthy, use a news search engine to check if it has been reported on by a news service you trust. Also pay close attention to the video itself: look for physical impossibilities or glitches typical of AI-generated footage like:
- People or things appearing (or disappearing) out of thin air
- Objects behaving in physically impossible ways (heavy objects falling slowly, rigid objects bending...)
- Garbled writing, oddly shaped letters or signs
- People or objects blending into or moving through each other
- Inconsistencies between different shots of the video (extra architectural elements in buildings, changing backgrounds, differences in clothing or hairstyle)
- An audio track that sounds strange: flat, unnatural speech; scripted-sounding yelling from bystanders ("Did you see that? OMG!"); or sound effects that are out of sync with the events.
Unsure about a video? Email [email protected] and we will take a look!
These materials were developed in 2026 for the Prebunking at Scale project, with support from the European Fact-Checking Standards Network. If you share this on social media, use #prebunkingatscale.
