A council's deputy leader has admitted to using an AI-generated photo in a post about other local authorities "shipping" families to the region.
On 23 February, Durham County Council's Darren Grimes posted a blog he had written in which he said southern councils were moving "problem tenants, recent refugees and homeless families" to the region. He linked the issue to Durham's social housing waiting list.
The article used a photo of a group of South Asian men in tracksuits next to a coach in a housing estate.
When asked by the BBC about the photo, which had no caption, the Reform UK councillor acknowledged it was AI-generated. "The image was obviously for illustrative purposes," he said.
Last month the BBC reported hundreds of people had been relocated to deprived parts of north-east England because councils in their original areas did not have enough housing of their own.
