Algorithm manipulation: YouTube Channel using misleading AI-generated thumbnails as clickbait

Researched by Gifty Tracy Aminu 

Clickbaiting, a common strategy for gaining views and followers on social media, has become the norm, especially among content creators who have monetised their social media pages. 

This strategy has been deployed across social media platforms including on YouTube, Facebook, X, and Instagram since the monetisation of content, oftentimes contributing to the spread of false and misleading information. 

GhanaFact has monitored a YouTube channel, Amazing TV Ghana, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create sensational images as thumbnails to bait followers and other users of their YouTube and Facebook pages.

Thumbnails are simply a small, clickable preview image that represents videos on social media. They are designed to grab attention and increase engagement. As the “face” of any content, it boosts click-through rates (CTR).  

It is worthy to note that thumbnails are designed to be boosted by automated systems of platform (i.e. algorithms) depending on how interactive they are. Using AI-generated images and misleading headlines therefore aim to trick / game the algorithms into prioritizing specific thumbnails, this is commonly referred to as a type of algorithm manipulation.

This analysis will highlight particular thumbnails the Amazing TV Ghana channel has shared, highlighting those that have been identified as false and or misleading.  

1. Benjamin Asare’s misinformation

During the friendly game between Ghana and Austria in April 2024, news reports of two burglary incidents in the hotel rooms of the Black Stars team circulated on social and traditional media. 

However, amid efforts to find the perpetrators, Amazing TV GH shared an AI-generated image showing Black Stars goalkeeper, Benjamin Asare, in handcuffs, accompanied by some police officers with a caption suggesting he had been arrested for theft. 

The thumbnail was likely deployed to attract viewers of their YouTube video, while the message of the content was a mere accusation, which the Ghana Football Association and the Accra Hearts of Oak roundly debunked.  Read more here. 

So far, the video about Benjamin Asare has grossed a viewership of 146,712 since it was posted on March 27, 2026. 

2. Rev. Obampour fights at the funeral 

Another AI-generated clickbait thumbnail GhanaFact identified was one related to a popular preacher, Rev Ebenezer Opambour Adarkwa Yiadom, widely known as Prophet 1, who was alleged to have fought his family head over the funeral of his sister. 

GhanaFact’s investigation only found a video of Rev. Opambour openly criticizing his family head during one of his sermons, saying: “If you are a head of the family, you are (head) to the family not me. A family that respects you is your family. If nobody gives you that respect, don’t associate with them.”

But there was no physical fight as suggested by the thumbnail created by Amazing TV GH. 

3. Serwaa Amihere died in a car crash?

GhanaFact also found that for one of their videos, the channel shared a thumbnail with the images of a Ghanaian TV presenter, Serwaa Amihere Esq, claiming that she had died in a car crash. 

After reviewing the video, GhanaFact found that it was a supposed prophecy about Serwaa Amihere on January 1, 2026; however, Amazing TV GH presented it with a thumbnail as though the presenter was dead. 

4. Ga youth exhume Lumba’s body

Another victim of the AI-generated thumbnail and clickbait strategy was Charles Kwadwo Fosuh, known as Daddy Lumba. The channel claimed his body was exhumed following the news of his burial in his East Legon residence.

The news about the body being exhumed is not true. 

However, GhanaFact noted that on March 10, 2026, a letter from the overlord of GaDangme State  summoned the Family head of Charles Kwadwo Fosu (Daddy Lumba) over news reports that the musician was buried at his East Legon residence.  

5. Agradaa arrest thumbnail

Amazing TV GH also claimed that Patricia Asiedua Asiamah, a controversial preacher popularly known as Nana Agradaa, had been re-arrested. They used an AI-generated image of her in handcuffs as the thumbnail. This claim is False. 

On July 3, 2025, Nana Agradaa was found guilty of one count of charlatanic advertisement and four counts of fraud and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour; however, on March 3, 2026, she was released from prison after serving a one-year term instead of her initial 15-year term. 

The rearrest narrative was published four clear days (March 7) after her release. GhanaFact observed that the channel targets famous persons with the AI-generated thumbnails to get reactions and viewership. 

Here are some media literacy tips to verify this type of content

1. Check whether other media platforms have reported the same incident.
2. Check the social media pages of the mentioned or accused. 
3. Ask a journalist for the truth.
4. Send the claim to the GhanaFact WhatsApp chatbot.