Türkiye’s anti-disinformation center rejects false claim that YPG drone altered route due to child in Syria

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s Center for Combating Disinformation (DMM) on Wednesday rejected claims circulating on social media that a drone belonging to the YPG terrorist group in Syria changed its route after detecting a child in the area.

"Posts claiming that YPG terrorists changed the route of an unmanned aerial vehicle after detecting an individual holding a child in Syria contain disinformation," the center said in a statement shared on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal.

The statement also noted that the footage used in those posts was not recorded in Syria, but during the Russia–Ukraine war, adding that associating the images with YPG terrorists is a manipulative attempt to portray terrorist elements as innocent.

In a seperate statement, the center said it has been determined that artificial intelligence-generated disinformation activities have increased, particularly in parallel with recent developments in Syria.

"For instance, images claiming that a child was left alone and helpless under the snow as a result of operations carried out by the Syrian army, as well as images alleging that Syrian army soldiers were detained by Israel on Syrian territory, are fake content generated using artificial intelligence and have previously been circulated in different forms," the statement said.

The center also urged the public to remain vigilant and exercise caution against such AI-generated speculation.