The NRL has vowed to stamp out a wave of disturbing, AI-generated misinformation sweeping across rugby league and AFL communities, as fake news accounts continue to target players, clubs and fans online.
In recent months, numerous Facebook pages posing as official club channels or fan hubs have been producing fabricated stories using artificial intelligence tools.
The posts, often dressed up to look real, have spread rapidly, garnering thousands of likes, shares and comments, and reaching tens of thousands of users.
The content itself has crossed from misleading into deeply harmful.
False reports have circulated claiming former stars such as Jonathan Thurston are battling serious illness, invented discriminatory stadium policies, and multiple accounts have created fake news regarding player deaths.
The scale and nature of the content have prompted urgent action from the NRL, which is now working directly with Meta to remove the accounts behind the trend.
"The NRL is aware of several fake accounts impersonating NRL clubs and sharing false, harmful content, including fabricated news," an NRL spokesman told The Australian.
"The NRL has reported these accounts and offending posts to Meta. We have been and will continue to work closely with Meta to have them removed."
Clubs have also begun taking matters into their own hands.
The North Queensland Cowboys are among the first to successfully act, securing the removal of a Facebook page titled 'Cowboys Fan Hub' after it was found to be spreading AI-generated misinformation—particularly targeting the club's cheerleaders.
Meta confirmed the takedown, reinforcing its stance against coordinated inauthentic behaviour.
"We removed this Page and the associated ads for violating our inauthentic behaviour policies. We'll continue to monitor and take action if we find further violations," a Meta spokeswoman said in a statement to The Australian.
Despite these early wins, the issue remains widespread, with new accounts continuing to emerge and exploit the viral nature of social media. The ease of creating AI-generated content—combined with the speed at which it can be shared—has made it increasingly difficult to control.
With both the NRL and AFL seasons underway, officials are now warning fans to remain vigilant about the content they consume and share online, as the league intensifies its crackdown on what it has labelled a dangerous and "harmful" trend.
