WHAT WAS CLAIMED
A video shows a person holding an Australian flag while riding a horse on Bondi Beach.
OUR VERDICT
False. The video is AI-generated.
AAP FACTCHECK - A video supposedly showing someone riding a horse and parading an Australian flag on Bondi Beach, after a confrontation between flag-waving protesters there, is a fake. The video features signs of generation by artificial intelligence (AI), including errors on the Australian flag, unnatural ocean waves and the promenade's paving doesn't match the real one. "Bondi Beach Horseman 'Returns' With Australian Flag," reads the caption of the Facebook Reel, posted on September 9, 2025.
A follow-up comment from the user who posted it says: "Please SHARE this left , right and centre".
The caption appears to reference a man riding a horse along the famous Sydney beach while waving a Palestinian flag on September 7, 2025.
This incident occurred one day after flag-waving pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators had a confrontation there, Nine News reported.
There are numerous signs that the Facebook video is fake and likely AI-generated.
For example, the purported Australian flag has one too many stars.
The Crucis star - positioned on the inner right side of the Southern Cross constellation - has been depicted twice, on both left and right.
The official Australian national flag does not depict a second star in that position.
Additionally, the plain grey concrete of the promenade in the fake video doesn't match the real one, which is paved with occasional stone-flecked concrete and can be seen in Google Maps Street View.
Some bystanders' feet also appear to merge into the ground in the fake clip.
Other giveaways in the video include the index finger of a woman on the far left appearing impossibly long (timestamp two seconds).
A man wearing the Red Bull T-shirt also has an unnaturally long digit (0:05).
Small flags being waved by bystanders also seem to pass through the horse, while ocean waves in the background don't break consistently as they approach the shore.
AAP FactCheck could not find any credible news reports or any other footage indicating that a person rode a horse while waving an Australian flag on Bondi Beach on that date.
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