Purported AI-Generated Video Reportedly Depicts Illegal Tiger Sales in Bagerhat, Bangladesh

A purportedly AI-generated video circulating online in summer 2025 reportedly claimed to depict a "tiger market" in Bagerhat, Bangladesh, where Bengal tigers were allegedly being sold. The footage was reportedly generated using Google's Veo AI tool. The reported viral spread of this video allegedly misled viewers about the existence of illegal wildlife trafficking in Bangladesh.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 3 Misinformation
• Primary risk subdomain: 3.1 False or misleading information

The incident involves a deepfake video that spreads false information about a non-existent tiger market, misleading the public.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The creation and dissemination of the deepfake video was an intentional act by human users after the AI model was deployed.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3. Limited Risk: The system is used to generate AI-generated content such as deepfakes, which requires transparency obligations to ensure users are informed.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: Hive, Veo (Google, Hive)
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Social Media Content Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Google
• Alleged deployer: Unknown social media accounts
• Alleged harmed parties: Wildlife authorities in Bangladesh, General public of Bangladesh, Conservationists in Bangladesh

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Minor. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Malicious content

Reported: The report describes the creation of a deepfake video depicting an illegal tiger market.

Directly caused: The AI tool Veo was used to generate a realistic video of an illegal wildlife market.

Epistemic

Reported: The report explicitly describes epistemic harm in the form of a viral deepfake video spreading false information.

Directly caused: The video falsely claimed that a real tiger market exists in Bagerhat, Bangladesh, misleading social media users.

Inferred additional harm: The viral spread of such realistic deepfakes may contribute to a broader erosion of trust in digital media and damage the international reputation of Bangladesh regarding wildlife trafficking.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly exposed: 10000

Potential causes

Management

• Inadequate Misuse Prevention: Released Veo without crop-resistant watermarks or tracking.

Technology

• Realistic Video Synthesis: Google Veo generated highly realistic footage of a fake tiger market.
• Bypassable Watermarks: The Veo watermark was easily cropped out in viral social media posts.

Data Inputs

• Synthesis of Real Entities: Training data allowed realistic generation of tigers and Bangladeshi people.

Human Factors

• Deceptive Content Creation: Users generated misleading content to spread false claims online.
• Uncritical Sharing by Public: Social media users shared the video without verifying its authenticity.

Process and Methods

• Lack of Social Media Filtering: Social platforms lacked automatic detection to block the viral deepfake.

Regulatory Environment

• Absence of Deepfake Laws: No regulatory frameworks to deter the spread of AI misinformation.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report clearly identifies the AI tool used (Google Veo), the nature of the misinformation (fake tiger market), and the fact-checking process that debunked it. There is little ambiguity about the events.

A viral deepfake video depicting a fake illegal tiger market in Bangladesh was created using Google's Veo and quickly debunked. The incident represents a minor national security impact, primarily highlighting the ongoing challenge of generative AI-enabled misinformation on social media, with no direct physical, sovereign, or economic harm.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Scope: Single nation
• Primary target: Bangladesh
• Alleged perpetrator: Unknown

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The incident has been resolved and debunked, representing an ongoing strategic concern regarding deepfakes rather than an active crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The Google Veo AI model acted strictly as a tool controlled by a human user to generate specific video content.
• Novelty: Established threat. The use of generative AI to create misleading deepfakes for social media attention is a well-established threat pattern.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No threat to physical systems, critical infrastructure, or physical human safety was reported or indicated in the incident.
• Information security: Minor. Demonstrates the use of generative AI to create realistic disinformation, though it was localized and lacked state-actor coordination or intelligence compromise.
• Sovereignty: Negligible. The incident did not target or affect government decision-making, electoral systems, state authority, or constitutional processes.
• Economic security: Negligible. No financial systems, strategic technologies, or critical supply chains were impacted or targeted by this incident.
• Societal stability: Minor. The viral video misled many viewers and could potentially damage Bangladesh's reputation regarding wildlife trafficking, but caused no civil unrest or systemic oppression.