The debate over the use of AI-generated content by US President Donald Trump and his administration was reignited this week when Trump posted a video depicting the arrest of former President Barack Obama.

The 1-minute-26-second video, postedon Trump's own Truth Social platform on Monday, opens with authentic clips of Obama and other senior Democrat politicians, past and present, declaring that "no one is above the law." It then cuts to footage appearing to show Obama being arrested by FBI agents in the Oval Office, handcuffed in the presence of Trump, and later shown behind bars in an orange jumpsuit.

Of course, Obama has not been arrested. The latter part of the video is clearly generated using artificial intelligence. It even bears a watermark revealing that it has been created by a TikTok account with only around 8,000 followers that regularly posts sensationalist, pro-Trump content, some of which is AI-generated.

Yet Trump still posted it to his 10.5 million followers, just as he did with a clearly fake image depicting him as the pope on May 3 and an AI-generated video of a "Gaza Riviera" on February 26.

The latter example sparked particular outrage, as it presents a vision for the Gaza Strip under the controversial proposal Trump put forward in February 2025. The US president suggested a full US "takeover" and redevelopment of the territory, aiming to transform Gaza into what he described as the "Riviera of the Middle East"........

© Deutsche Welle