A viral video purporting to be a BBC News report accusing an Indian national of attempting to hijack a Flydubai plane is fake, fact-checkers have confirmed — and it was made with AI-generated audio and captions.
The clip claims that Indian national Raghav Menon attempted to hijack a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, calling it a covert RAW-Mossad operation. Newschecker investigated the video and found no credible evidence that the BBC ever published such a report.
What really happened to the flight
A Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, after one pilot allegedly stabbed the other in an apparent attempt to crash the aircraft. That is the real incident behind the fake clip.
The BBC’s actual reports on the incident contain no claim about an Indian national named Raghav Menon, and no such report appears on the BBC’s official website or YouTube channel.
How the fake was spotted
A reverse image search of the viral clip led investigators to a BBC News video published on September 29, 2026, a day before the flight incident. The presenter in the original video is wearing the same attire as the presenter in the viral clip — the footage had been altered and given AI-generated audio and captions.
Analysis using Hive Moderation flagged the clip as likely containing AI-generated or deepfake content, and BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh publicly clarified that the video was fake. The case is a reminder to check a broadcaster’s own channels before sharing dramatic claims.
The fake is a textbook example of how modern misinformation works: real footage, a familiar presenter, AI-generated audio and captions, and a dramatic claim designed to travel. The giveaway was the calendar — the original BBC video was published on September 29, a day before the flight incident it supposedly reported. Fact-checkers say the best defence is to check the broadcaster’s own website and channels before sharing, and to be suspicious of any clip that arrives only as a social media post.
