Santorini targeted by fake volcano eruption videos

Santorini has fallen victim to a series of false, viral videos which allegedly show the Greek island engulfed in lava, as it deals with a real state of emergency caused by hundreds of tremors since the end of January.

The videos have mostly been published on TikTok but some have also appeared on X, where they've amassed thousands of views, shares and likes.

They've also received thousands of comments, and while many rightly question the videos’ authenticity, many appear to believe what they pretend to depict.

One of them for example shows lava streaming down the cliffside into the sea, while volcanoes explode across the mountain.

Another shows crowds fleeing in terror as fires rage against the backdrop of Santorini's iconic white buildings and blue roofs.

A third video portrays smoke billowing from an island, captioned as Santorini, as if an eruption had just occurred there.

However, various clues show that the first two of these videos were AI-generated.

In the first one, the sea looks artificial and doesn’t behave as you might expect water to react to lava and how it might react to crashing against the rocks.

The colours are saturated, and at times a boat sail blends into the buildings, while another boat seemingly covered in lava sails past.

In the second video, the people running away are distorted - they dissolve, blend into each other and have blurred faces.

The third video isn’t AI-generated, but doesn’t depict Santorini at all: not only are the blue-roofed buildings missing, but the geography of the island is completely different.

A reverse image search shows us that the video actually depicts Whakaari, or White Island, in New Zealand.

The island is New Zealand's most active cone volcano, which last erupted in December 2019.

Additionally, claims have circulated that Turkey is behind the videos, to try and damage Santorini's tourism industry, but there’s zero evidence that this is the case.

The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism did not respond to EuroVerify's requests for comment.

What's really been happening in Santorini?

While Santorini is a volcanic island, it's recently been dealing with a series of earth tremors, not volcanic eruptions.

The island has recorded more than 800 tremors with a magnitude of three and above since 31 January, leading to the declaration of a state of emergency that will last until early March.

The strongest tremor, measuring 5.2, occurred on 5 February and was even felt in Athens, Crete and parts of Turkey.

Despite causing minimal damage so far, thousands have fled Santorini and the nearby islands of Amorgos, Anafi and Ios after more than 200 undersea earthquakes were recorded in the area.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced a €3 million funding package to construct an emergency evacuation route in Santorini's south.

Experts told our colleagues at Euronews Travel that the quakes aren't linked to Santorini's volcano but that it's still unclear whether the swarm could lead to a more powerful earthquake.