Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
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
Video of actor Rashmika Mandanna in a red bikini, posing near a waterfall.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker noticed that at several moments in the video, the woman’s movements seemed unnatural and jerky, especially around the eyes, which indicates signs of digital manipulation.
We then ran the video past an AI detection tool, TrueMedia, which stated there was substantial evidence of manipulation, marking it “Highly Suspicious”.
The Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), of The Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA), of which Newschecker is a part, also ran the viral video through several deepfake detection tools and spoke to experts who found that the video was manipulated using AI. Dr. Hany Farid, a professor of computer science at the University of California in Berkeley, who specialises in digital forensics and A.I. detection, told DAU that the video is a face-swap deepfake
We then ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to the original video posted by Daniela Villareal, dated April 19, who is a model and content creator based out of Santander, Colombia.
A comparison of the original video (left) with the viral video (right) confirms that it is the same video that has been digitally altered. We have reached out to Daniela Villarreal and will update the story once we receive a response.
Result: Altered Media
Source
TrueMedia deepfake detection tool
Instagram post, Daniela Villareal, April 19, 2024
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
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.
