2026-09-20T23:22:28.549Z
- publishedAt:
Not provided→ 2025-12-16T00:00:00.000Z
SOURCE-LINKED INTELLIGENCE
Purportedly AI-Generated 'Eric Langford' Missing Boy Scout Hoax Circulating Across Multiple Social Media Platforms
A purportedly AI-generated fictional story falsely claimed that a Boy Scout named Eric Langford disappeared in New York in 1989 and reappeared in 2001 after being kidnapped. The reported hoax originated on the UNKNOWN Files YouTube channel and was repackaged into viral TikTok videos and AI-written blog posts promoted on Facebook, misleading millions of viewers and searchers about a fabricated missing-person case.
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- recordType
- incident-report
- evidenceStatus
- reported
- region
- Global
Reported occurrence date: 2025-12-13T00:00:00.000Z
Evidence & attribution
- AI Incident Database
- AI Incident Database · 2025-12-16T00:00:00.000Z
AI Incident Database, Responsible AI Collaborative; McGregor (2021), Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents. Incident-specific contributor credits are available at each citation link. Metadata adapted; article text excluded.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
First collected: 2026-09-19T22:50:59.123Z. This is not the publication date.
Observed changes
AIIC observation times, not verified publisher revision times. Up to eight recent revisions.