{"id":207373,"date":"2025-01-10T14:08:21","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T22:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/?p=207373"},"modified":"2026-02-23T18:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T02:54:13","slug":"how-social-media-is-spreading-l-a-misinformation-like-wildfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/internet-security\/how-social-media-is-spreading-l-a-misinformation-like-wildfire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hollywood Sign is Not on Fire: Deepfakes Spread During L.A. Wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid the devastation of the Los Angeles County wildfires – scorching an area twice the size of Manhattan \u2013 McAfee threat researchers have identified and verified a rise in AI-generated deepfakes and misinformation, including startling but false images of the Hollywood sign engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n

Debunking the Myth: Hollywood Sign Safe Amid Wildfire Rumors on Social Media<\/h2>\n

Social media and local broadcast news have been flooded with deceptive images claiming the Hollywood sign is engulfed in flames, with many people alleging that the iconic landmark is “surrounded by fire.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure 1.<\/strong> AI-generated image shared on Facebook on January 9th, 2025.<\/p>\n

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Fact check:<\/span><\/b> The Hollywood sign is still standing and is intact. <\/span>A live feed of the Hollywood sign clearly shows the sign is not currently in harm’s way or engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2: <\/strong>Live view<\/a> of the Hollywood sign taken at 3.29 PT on Friday, January 10th 2025.<\/p>\n

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McAfee researchers have examined dozens of images shared across X, Facebook, Tik Tok and Instagram, and have verified these are indeed AI-generated images and videos. In addition to analysis from our own threat researchers, McAfee\u2019s image deepfake detection technology has flagged images shown here (and many more) of the Hollywood Hills as AI-generated, with the fire serving as a key factor in its analysis.<\/p>\n

McAfee\u2019s investigation traced many of the images back to Gemini, an AI-based image generation platform. This finding underscores the increasing sophistication of fake image synthesis, where fake images and videos can be created in mere seconds, but can be spread to more than a million views in just 24 hours, such as is the case with the social post shared on Facebook below.<\/p>\n

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Figure 3: <\/strong>Screenshot of deepfake video of Hollywood sign on fire. This video was discovered on Facebook and had already achieved 1.3 million views in 24 hours.<\/p>\n

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McAfee CTO, Steve Grobman states, \u201cAI tools have supercharged the spread of disinformation and misinformation, enabling false content\u2014like recent fake images of the Hollywood sign engulfed in flames\u2014to circulate at unprecedented speed. This makes it critical for social media users to keep their guard up, approach viral posts with skepticism, and verify sources to distinguish fact from fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Figure 4.<\/strong> McAfee\u2019s advanced AI models identifies images that have been modified or created using AI. The heatmap depicts areas that have been used to identify and confirm AI-usage.<\/p>\n

When Social Media Fans the Flames of Misinformation<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

AI-generated still images are incredibly easy to produce.\u00a0In less than a minute, we were\u00a0able to produce a convincing image of the Hollywood Hills sign on fire\u00a0for free\u00a0with\u00a0AI image generating\u00a0Android app (we have not published these images, only those found on social media). Many of these apps exist to choose from. Some do filter for violent\u00a0and other objectionable\u00a0content.\u00a0However,\u00a0images like the Hollywood Hills sign on fire,\u00a0fall outside\u00a0of\u00a0normal\u00a0guardrails. Additionally, the business model of many of these apps\u00a0include\u00a0free credits as a trial,\u00a0making it quick and\u00a0easy to create and share.\u00a0AI image generation is a widely available and easily accessible tool used in many misinformation campaigns.<\/p>\n

See below for more examples:<\/p>\n

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Figure 5.<\/strong> Examples on Instagram.<\/p>\n

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Upon closer inspection, some images had watermark images clearly labeled from Generative AI tools such as Grok. And while this might be an obvious telltale sign for some people, there are many others who are not familiar with or recognize such watermarks.<\/p>\n

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Figure 6.<\/strong> The Grok watermark is clearly visible in the image above.<\/p>\n

How to Identify a Deepfake<\/h2>\n

There are several straightforward steps that you can take to spot a fake. We recommend a combination of healthy skepticism and awareness combined with the right technology, such as McAfee Deepfake Detector.<\/a><\/p>\n

While not all AI is malicious or \u2018bad\u2019, this technology is commonly used by bad actors for malicious intent when it comes to deepfake scams, misinformation and disinformation. While the deepfakes outlined here appear to be without malicious intent – \u00a0other than to misinform social media users – we could expect these to evolve where scammers create similar deepfakes as part of fake donation scams, and so we advise everyone to stay vigilant and learn more on how to spot deepfakes online:<\/p>\n