Special Edition: The Unrest in Los Angeles
Newsom Did Not Misrepresent National Guard Images; Outdated Photos of Bricks Falsely Cited as Evidence of Premeditated Violence; Spoof Craigslist Ad Offers Payment for Protesters
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Today’s special edition of Realty Check unpacks the misinformation frenzy sparked by the unrest in Los Angeles, including: how malign foreign actors are exploiting the unrest; a false claim that California Gov. Newsom posted old or AI-generated photos to reveal poor conditions facing National Guard troops; how out-of-context images are being used to claim that pallets of bricks were placed around the protests to be used for violence; and how a prank Craigslist ad was cited as proof that protesters are being handsomely paid.
Plus: NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
1. Conservatives Falsely Claim Gov. Newsom Faked National Guard Photos
By Nicole Dirks
What happened: Critics of California Gov. Gavin Newsom are baselessly claiming that Newsom used an outdated photo from the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan or an AI-generated image in a post depicting National Guard troops housed in poor conditions in Los Angeles.
Context: On June 7, President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests against his administration’s immigration crackdown.
Two days later, on June 9, Newsom posted two photos on X that showed dozens of National Guard members sleeping on a floor with backpacks as pillows. “You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep,” Newsom posted, in a comment directed at Trump.
A closer look: Conservative accounts subsequently accused Newsom of deception, saying the images actually showed U.S. troops during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Others claimed the images were generated by AI.
The claim appears to have originated in a June 9 X post by @Melissa_in_CA, whose profile describes her as an “OSINT [Open Source Intelligence] journalist.” @Melissa_in_CA posted a ChatGPT response that said, “These images became publicly available via official U.S. defense channels on August 22, 2021, with the content captured three days earlier during the Kabul evacuation.” The post received 214,300 views and 170 likes in two days.
A June 9 post by conservative commentator and Trump confidante Laura Loomer said, “Looks like @GavinNewsom used an AI photo to smear President Trump! Democrats love lying.” The post garnered 341,000 views and 9,500 likes in two days.
Actually: The photos were originally published by the San Francisco Chronicle (NewsGuard Trust Score: 100/100) on June 9, and there is no evidence that they were shot during the 2021 U.S. Afghanistan withdrawal or are AI-generated.
The Chronicle said in a June 9 article that the photos of the troops were “exclusively obtained by the Chronicle” and that they were shot in Los Angeles at “what appear to be federal building basements or loading docks.” The photographer was not identified.
Using a reverse image search, NewsGuard found no evidence that the two photos appeared online before June 9, 2025. Moreover, NewsGuard ran the photos through artificial intelligence detector Hive, which determined that there was only a 0.1 percent chance either was AI-generated.
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2. False Claim of the Week: Pallets of Bricks Were Planted in Los Angeles in Plan to Arm Protesters for Violence
NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week” highlights a false claim from NewsGuard’s Misinformation Fingerprints proprietary database of provably false claims and their debunks. The claim that pallets of bricks were planted in L.A. as part of a plan to arm protesters for violence was deemed the “False Claim of the Week” due to its widespread appearance across social media platforms and websites, its high engagement levels, and the high-profile nature of the sources promoting it. Given those three factors — in addition to its significant subject matter — its potential for harm makes it our False Claim of the Week.
Debunk: Out-of-Context Images Cited as Proof that Agitators Left Bricks for Protesters
By Sarah Komar
What happened: Conservative and conspiracy-oriented accounts are baselessly claiming that agitators placed pallets of bricks around the Los Angeles area during the anti-deportation protests, to be used for attacking police.
A closer look: As videos of protest-related violence circulated online — including protesters torching driverless cars and throwing rocks and glass bottles at officers — conservative commentators and social media users claimed the protests were an organized, violent left-wing operation. As evidence, they posted images purportedly showing pallets of bricks or cinderblocks strategically placed around the Los Angeles area.
Actor and Trump supporter James Woods shared an image of several zip-tied pallets of red bricks stacked side-by-side on an empty residential street and said, sarcastically, “It’s not like these ‘protests’ are organized though…” The post garnered 4.2 million views and 159,000 likes in three days. Woods’ post was displayed during a June 9 episode of Newsmax’s “Chris Salcedo Show,” as host Chris Salcedo stated, “Online observers like famed actor James Woods are openly wondering, ‘Who is financing all the magic pallets of bricks and cinderblocks that are just appearing for no apparent reason in key areas of Los Angeles?’”
In a June 7 X post, conservative account @defense_civil25 — which uses the display name “US Homeland Security News” but is unaffiliated with the department — shared an image of bricks in shrink-wrap and said: “Alert: Soros funded organizations have ordered hundreds of pallets of bricks to be placed near ICE facilities to be used by Democrat militants against ICE agents and staff!! It’s Civil War!!” The post received 820,000 views and 15,000 likes in three days.
Actually: Neither image shows bricks planted for Los Angeles protesters to use against police.
Fact-checking site Lead Stories (Trust Score: 100/100) geolocated the image of the zip-tied brick pallets to the town of West New York, New Jersey.
The image of the bricks in shrink-wrap was actually taken from a listing on the website of a Malaysian construction-material supplier, according to reporting by BBC Verify journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh, which NewsGuard confirmed.
Click here to find out more about NewsGuard Trust Scores and our process for rating websites. You can download NewsGuard’s browser extension, which displays NewsGuard Trust Score icons next to links on search engines, social media feeds, and other platforms by clicking here.
3. Prankster’s Craigslist Ad Cited as Proof that LA Protesters Were Paid
By Nicole Dirks
What happened: Conservative social media users are citing a June 2025 listing on classified ad site Craigslist to falsely claim that the anti-Trump protesters in Los Angeles were well paid to take to the streets.
A closer look: Amid the protests, pro-Trump accounts shared a June 5 Craigslist advertisement titled “Looking for the toughest badasses in the city (los angeles)” that stated, in part:
“SEEKING EXTREMELY TOUGH, BRAVE MEN FOR NEW CREW … We are forming a select team of THE TOUGHEST dudes in the area. This unit will be activated only when the situation demands it — BUT YOU GET PAID EVERY WEEK NO MATTER WHAT. high-pressure, high-risk, no room for hesitation. We need individuals who do not break, panic, or fold under stress and are basically all around kickass dudes.” The ad offered compensation of $6,500 to $12,500 per week.
The users claimed the ad proves that anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles were offered compensation. Some alleged that demonstrators who were supposedly hired through Craigslist would be paid by nonprofit organizations that receive federal funding.
A June 9 X post from conservative user @TheIntelSCIF stated: “CALIFORNIA RIOT IS A FUNDED OPERATION. Adds [sic] on Craigslist paying people $6,500-$12,500/wk for being a ‘tough badass in LA.’” The user added, “Taxpayer money is also being funneled through these NGOs to fund these operations directly against the U.S. and its own citizens.” The post received 1 million views and 20,000 likes in less than a day.
Conservative X user Liz Churchill posted a screenshot of the ad and said: “Insane. Who’s paying people $12,500 A WEEK to riot in California?” The post garnered 5 million views and 46,000 likes in two days.
Actually: The person who posted the Craigslist ad said it was a prank and that he did not expect it to be interpreted as related to the L.A. demonstrations.
In a June 10 interview with the The Associated Press (Trust Score: 100/100), YouTuber Joey LaFleur said he posted the ad to create material for a prank show he hosts on YouTube called “Goofcon1.” LaFleur, who also hosts an L.A.-based podcast called “Hate Watch,” told the AP: “I literally had no idea [the ad] was ever going to be connected to the riots. It was a weird coincidence.”
LaFleur interviewed six people who responded to the ad in a June 6 “Goofcon1” livestream, during which he acknowledged that he was “prank calling” people who responded to the ad.
NewsGuard reviewed credible news coverage of the L.A. protests and found no reports that any participants were hired to protest.
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4. Foreign Disinformation Operations Exploit the Unrest
What happened: Since the protests in Los Angeles erupted on June 6, Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state-affiliated sources have jointly published approximately 9,900 posts and articles about the demonstrations, NewsGuard found, advancing false claims framing Los Angeles as ground zero in an American apocalypse.
Russia: Much of the output has come from Russia, whose messaging has been the most aggressive.