Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Former US President Donald Trump extends his support to jailed Pakistani leader Imran Khan and promises to free him from prison if elected. “He is my friend. I love him. I will support him to take over the government again…We will work together to make our ties stronger. Imran Khan zindabad,” Trump says.
Archived versions of such posts can be seen here and here.
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Fact
A keyword search for “Donald Trump and Imran Khan,” did not yield any credible reports stating that the former US President made any such remarks on the Pakistani leader.
We observed that the movement of Trump’s upper lip looked unnatural. Additionally, around 14 seconds into the video, we noticed a slight twitch, after which it appeared that the initial few frames were being played on loop.
A Google lens search on the keyframes of the footage led us to a YouTube video featuring Trump by The Tea Guru, dated March 17, 2024. On carefully analysing the video and comparing it with the viral footage, we concluded them both to be visually identical. However, both clips had different audios.
Further, we spotted a watermark of Parrot AI in the YouTube video by The Tea Guru.
Taking a clue, we skimmed through the website of Parrot AI, a platform that enables users to generate AI voices of celebrities. The website listed options of generating AI voices of multiple US leaders including Donald Trump.
Newschecker created a video of Trump saying, “Hi. I am Donald Trump. I am the former President of the United States of America,” using the platform. The video featured the identical expression, hand gestures and background as seen in the viral footage.
The video can be seen below:
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We also found a YouTube channel dedicated to AI videos of the former POTUS called “AI Trump – Tells the Truth.” It featured multiple clips of Trump – identical to the viral footage- with different AI generated audios. Additionally, we spotted multiple social media posts carrying the viral footage with a deepfake audio of Trump. Such posts can be seen here, here and here.
This led us to conclude that the video template has been used repeatedly to generate AI videos of Trump.
We continued our investigation to find the original video, and conducted a TinEye search on the keyframes of Trump’s AI generated footage. This led us to a video report by NBC News, dated May 12, 2017. It featured an interview of Trump with Lester Holt.
On comparing the viral footage with the interview clip, we found multiple similarities such as Trump’s attire and the background. It is likely that the viral footage is from the same interview, though we could not independently confirm the same.
Hence, we could conclude that an AI generated audio has been digitally added to a video of Donald Trump to falsely claim that the former US President extended his support to jailed Pakistani leader Imran Khan.
Also Read: Virat Kohli Watching Rahul Gandhi’s Press Conference? No, Viral Photo Is Digitally Altered
Result: Altered Video
Sources
YouTube Video By The Tea Guru, Dated March 17, 2024
Parrot AI Website
Self Analysis
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
