Fake photos of Disney World underwater after Hurricane Milton shared by Russia

Pictures show Disney World in Florida – one of the main attractions, visited by 48 million tourists in 2023 – under water amid Hurricane Milton.

The only problem? They are AI-generated – and distributed by Russia.

Follow Metro’s liveblog for the latest news on the Hurriance Milton

RIA – the Russian state-owned domestic news agency – shared the fake images on its Telegram channel earlier this afternoon, just after midday.

‘Social media users post photos of Disney World in Florida flooded by Hurricane Milton,’ it said.

With more than 3.3 million subscribers, it is no surprises that some 228,000 users had already engaged with the post in under an hour.

In them, at least one metre of floodwater – supposedly brought by the ferociousrain that has been pounding Florida – covers the ground.

Its iconic landmarks such as the 189-foot Cinderella’s Castle is seen all lit-up in an eerie, almost whimsical way.

Another one showed street lamps fully lit up – all the while more than 3.2 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power on Thursday.

Comparing the fake images with real ones on Disney’s website, it is also obvious some creative adjustments have been made in their generation.

RIA does not appear to be the first source of the images, which began circulating in the morning on X.

They were also given a further boost online after Noticiero El Salvador channel (El Salvador News) – which has more than half a million followers on X – posted them too.

Mario Nawfal, one of the ascendant stars on Elon Musk’s Twitter, also distributed them to its 1.7 million followers.

Metro managed to track what appears to be the original poster of the AI image, an account on X called BoomBoxBro_ which joined the platform this June.

Walt Disney World shut its theme parks in stages from 1pm on Wednesday, the company said on its website.

Metro has contacted Disney for a comment.

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