- That wonderful public celebration you thought of attending? It might never have existed.
Dazzling fireworks displays are a staple New Year’s tradition around the world. In England, a large crowd in Birmingham gathered to welcome the new year by admiring booming and crackling rockets.
Imagine their disappointment, then, when no firework display took place.
The lack of a show wasn’t due to malfunctioning equipment or poor planning, though. There were never supposed to be any fireworks in the first place.
Everyone in the crowd had fallen victim to an online hoax. Fake, likely AI-generated social media posts had promised a supposed fireworks show in central Birmingham, and people had swallowed the story hook, line, and sinker.
But possibly the weirdest thing is that this isn’t the first time Birmingham residents have been fooled by a made-up New Year’s event. The exact same thing happened at the end of 2024 as well.
You want to ask why people fell for the same hoax again, but what you probably should be asking is who keeps posting stories about non-existent fireworks.
Hundreds Show Up for No Show
Toward the end of 2025, online ads and articles promising plenty of pomp and circumstance began circulating on the English web. According to the announcements, there would be a great New Year’s celebration in Birmingham’s Centenary Square.
The ads promised that there would be live music, food, refreshments, and even a skating rink. In the end, the evening’s festivities would be capped by a grand fireworks display.
Well, that sure sounds like a good time. Hundreds of Brummies (as the English call Birmingham residents) thought so too, and a huge crowd gathered at the square to celebrate New Year’s, despite the below-freezing temperature.
Only, there was no celebration. No lights, no food, no music, and most definitely no fireworks.
That was because all the event ads were fake. There were never supposed to be any fireworks in the city center, and there haven’t been any since 2017.
In fact, the West Midlands Police (WMP), which handles law enforcement in Birmingham, had tried to prevent this issue from happening. On December 30, they put out a press release to inform people that there were no fireworks.
“There are no official firework displays or city-organized events happening in Birmingham city center on New Year’s Eve,” the WMP said.
Yet, people still showed up.
Fool Me Once…
Well, the people of Birmingham have now surely learned to triple-check whether the events they want to attend actually exist. Right?
It doesn’t seem so. The exact same thing happened at the end of 2024, only at that time, the crowd numbered in the thousands.
“Every year, rumors start to spread online about big celebrations in the city. Unfortunately, these false claims often lead to confusion and disappointment,” the WMP said.
But why is someone putting up announcements about New Year’s parties that don’t exist? Nobody’s quite sure, and as far as we know, there has been no official investigation into the matter.
However, the culprit might be AI.
As we mentioned, the city of Birmingham hasn’t organized New Year’s celebrations for nearly a decade. Once upon a time, however, the kinds of parties described in the hoax ads did exist.
The police suspect that AI-generated articles and social media videos about the best public New Year’s celebrations in England are picking up stories from years and years ago. Assuming that the event is still ongoing, the AI then barfs out what amounts to an ad for a non-existent celebration.
Unsuspecting people then see the story or video and decide to go to the event. And that can cause real headaches for the police, who have to be on hand to tell people that their party plans have been ruined.
No Winter Wonderland
It’s not just Birmingham where people have fallen for fake AI events. A similar thing happened in London.
In early December, stunning photos of a Christmas market at Buckingham Palace began cropping up on social media. They showed Christmas lights, vendors, a huge Christmas tree, and general merriment all around. Photo captions promised a “beautiful winter wonderland atmosphere.”
Of course, this Christmas event never existed. The pictures were AI-generated, and there weren’t any plans for public gatherings at the palace.
Some people, particularly tourists unfamiliar with London’s annual traditions, didn’t know that. So, they showed up only to be disappointed by a dreary, cold scene.
The same kinds of incidents have recently started popping up around the world. Locals and tourists alike are trying to visit events and book tours to locations that only ever existed in the imagination of an LLM algorithm.
Trust Nothing
The WMP, certainly echoing the sentiments of cops everywhere, warned people that they shouldn’t blindly trust any event announcements they see online. No matter how official they seem, there’s a chance that it’s nothing but computer-generated noise.
What’s more, going to an event that’s not there could cause real safety risks.
“When large crowds gather for an event that doesn’t exist, it puts pressure on public transport, emergency services, and can lead to congestion,” the WMP warned.
You really can’t trust anything you see online these days.
Want to read about more weird hoaxes that fooled throngs of people? Check out our list of the 8 strangest and most outrageous public pranks in history.