Misinformation Circulates Online After Cambridgeshire Train Attack

Amid a wave of recent stabbing reports across the U.K. and speculation about possible links between them, social media has become flooded with misinformation. Online trolls have circulated misleading posts and AI-generated footage falsely claiming to show scenes from the recent attacks.

Mass Stabbing Aboard Cambridgeshire Train Leaves Several Injured

Police reported that the stabbing attack left eleven people hospitalized, including a train staff member who remains in “critical but stable condition.”

Officers arrested two British men in their 30s shortly after the incident but later confirmed there was no indication of a terror motive.

Detectives charged Anthony Williams, 32, from Peterborough, on Monday with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of actual bodily harm (ABH), and one count of possessing a bladed article in connection with the high-speed train attack in Cambridgeshire.

Police also charged Williams with an additional count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article related to a separate incident at Pontoon Dock DLR station earlier the same day.

Witnesses said officers used a Taser on a man armed with a knife during the train incident.

The police are also reviewing four knife-related incidents that reportedly occurred hours before train passengers fled in panic on Saturday evening.

U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the attack as “appalling” and “deeply concerning,” while the King and Queen extended their “deepest sympathy” to the affected people.

Viral Misinformation Follows Train Stabbing Incident

After the mass stabbing on a train in Cambridgeshire on Saturday night, social media trolls circulated unrelated footage and AI-generated clips, falsely linking them to the recent attack.

An X user posted a video purporting to show the suspect stabbing a person lying on the floor of a train, writing, “This sort of terrible incident has happened on our trains before I’m afraid, a young man was stabbed 20 times as witnesses helplessly watched. This was in front of young children as well.”

BBC News report on March 28, 2024, included a screenshot of the same footage showing a knife attack on a train in Beckenham.

According to the BBC, the incident involved a man in his 20s who sustained life-threatening injuries after being stabbed at the time.

Social media trolls also shared another video claiming to depict the Cambridgeshire train attack. The footage shows an alleged assailant stabbing passengers inside the train before running out of the station and attacking more people outside.

An X user posted the clip with the caption, “British police have detained two suspects following a mass stabbing on a London-bound train that left nine passengers with life-threatening injuries and another wounded on Saturday evening.”

Misbar’s investigative team found the video to be AI-generated. The second scene included a visible “Sora” watermark, indicating it was created using OpenAI’s Sora video generator.

The clip also contained multiple inconsistencies characteristic of AI-generated content, including color blurring, overlapping figures, unnatural movements, and police appearing to arrest an unrelated person in the background.

Hive Moderation’s AI detection tool indicated a 94% likelihood that the footage was generated using artificial intelligence.

In addition, netizens circulated another image claiming to show police officers arresting the suspect and the injured man receiving treatment after the train stabbing.

X’s Grok chatbot amplified the claim when an X user asked about the image’s authenticity. The chatbot responded, “This image appears to be a genuine photo capturing the aftermath of the stabbing incident on a Doncaster-to-London train.”

No credible media outlets published the image, and reports indicated that the attacker fled the scene of the train stabbing before being apprehended elsewhere.

Misbar’s team used Hive Moderation’s AI detection tool to verify the image’s authenticity and found a 99.9% likelihood that it was AI-generated. The image also displayed several clear indicators of artificial generation, including blurred and distorted faces, unnatural blood patterns on the ground, and inconsistent lighting and body proportions.

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