NASA Artemis II mission: real or fake conspiracys spread online

Viral claims about fake footage and AI manipulation spread online as NASA's Artemis II Moon fly-by draws global attention and misinformation.

The NASA spacecraft carrying four astronauts splashed down as planned Friday off the California coast, capping the US space agency's successful crewed test mission around the Moon, the first such flyby in more than 50 years.

The NASA Artemis II mission has become the target of multiple online conspiracy theories which spread through X and TikTok and Facebook with false claims that the Moon mission was either faked or created through artificial intelligence.

NASA Artemis II footage targeted by fake claims

The NASA Artemis II mission, which sent astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen to undertake a record-breaking lunar mission, has become the main target for false information that spreads online. 

The online posts make false allegations that the spacecraft was created through studio filming or that the mission visuals were produced through artificial intelligence technology.

Some widely shared content included altered images suggesting green screen production, while other posts misrepresented minor broadcast errors as proof of fabrication. Digital forensics experts from AFP verified that one viral glitch originated from a failed television overlay which mistakenly showed mission data instead of actual data.

Mike Rothschild, who studies disinformation, said that the NASA Artemis II mission demonstrates how all major scientific events become targets for conspiracy theories because of their visual impact and emotional reach.

The major social media platforms suffer from decreased content moderation, which results in increased dissemination of false information, according to his findings. The online environment, which experts call a 'Wild West internet system', allows misinformation to spread rapidly to millions of users before any corrections take place.

Researchers discovered that artificial intelligence tools have become more popular because these tools enable users to create fake content while they produce authentic footage which they refer to as a liar's dividend.

The Apollo 11 Moon landing conspiracy theories date back to 1969 when users began to spread claims about the Apollo 11 Moon landing conspiracy theories, which NASA's Artemis II now brings back into public view.

The two factors which experts identify as reasons for these narratives to continue existing are public memory of early Moon missions and people who prefer alternative explanations which contradict official records.