Collapse of Fact-Checking Mechanisms: FTV Broadcasts AI-Generated Video as Real Myanmar Earthquake Footage

In March 2025, while reporting on a severe earthquake in Myanmar, Formosa TV (FTV) News Channel broadcasted an AI-generated fake video (featuring exaggerated ground cracking and oil spurting) circulating on the internet as real disaster footage during primetime, without basic fact-checking. The video was only hastily removed with an apology after netizens exposed the falsehood. As a national news network with massive resources, its inability to identify even basic AI fake videos exposed the sloppiness of its news production process and the complete collapse of its verification mechanisms.