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AI/Deepfake
US President Trump bans Tesla production in the US after his fallout with the firm’s CEO Elon Musk.
No such announcement by the US President so far. Video found to be manipulated using AI.
A video allegedly showing US President Donald Trump announcing a ban on the production of Tesla vehicles in the country has gone viral on social media platforms amid his ongoing rift with Elon Musk.
In the viral clip, Trump is purportedly heard saying, “Today, I am here to announce that I will be banning the production of all Teslas in the United States of America, effective immediately. As everyone knows, Elon stabbed me in the back a couple days ago and went crazy on his platform X, lying about my involvement in the Epstein files…Nobody likes Teslas anyways, unless you’re a nerd, they catch fire and break down easily…”
Multiple X and Facebook users shared the 59-second video with a text overlay claiming, “Donald Trump Bans Tesla Production In USA.”
Such posts can be seen here, here and here.
We looked up the key phrase “President Trump bans Tesla” on Google which did not yield any credible reports/official releases confirming that the Republic has taken any such of debarring productions of the EVs, so far. The US President is, however, is considering to “get rid of Tesla,” reported the USA Today, adding, “A White House official confirmed on background June 6 that Trump no longer wants the Tesla Model S he bought in March in a show of support for the company after incidents of vandalism at Tesla dealerships across the country.”
A Google Lens search on the keyframes of the viral clip led us to the US President’s press conference with Elon Musk, live streamed on the official YouTube channel of The White House on May 30, 2025. It featured Trump in the same attire as seen in the viral clip. We, however, found that visuals featured in the viral clip were laterally inverted.
On carefully analysing the viral clip, we observed that Trump’s jaw area appeared to mildly quiver at certain points. His lip area also seemed smudged/blurred, indicating that the video might have been manipulated using AI.
Also Read: No, This Video Does Not Show Celebrations In Bengaluru After RCB Won IPL 2025
We then looked up a segment of the viral clip on AI detection tool Hive Moderation which concluded an overall 99.4% likelihood of the media containing AI generated or deepfake content. Another AI audio detection website, Resemble.ai found the voice heard in the same footage to be “fake.”
Newschecker also ran the audio on Deepfake-O-Meter of the UB Media Forensics Lab, which checked the same on multiple detectors, most of which concluded a high probability of it being AI generated.
Further, we were able to spot the watermark of “@DangerousAIReturns” faintly on the middle of the screen in the viral clip. We looked up the same on social media platforms, and found an Instagram handle by the same id.
The alleged video of Trump announcing a ban on Tesla production in the States was shared on the profile on June 8, 2025. We noticed the “AI Info” label on the reel- Instagram puts the same on “content with industry-standard signals indicating that it was created with AI.”
Hence, we find that the viral video claiming that President Donald Trump banned Tesla production in the US, following his brawl with Elon Musk, is manipulated using AI.
Sources
YouTube Video By The White House, Dated May 30, 2025
Hive Moderation Website
Resemble.ai Website
Deepfake-O-Meter Tool
Altered Photo/Video
Vasudha Beri
June 9, 2025
Vasudha Beri
June 9, 2025
Newschecker Team
June 7, 2025
