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
US President Joe Biden calls for military conscription following the recent drone attack in Jordan.
Fact
No such announcement, viral video found to be deepfake.
Several social media users are circulating a purported video of US President Joe Biden announcing a military draft, “so as to combat Russia and Iran”, by invoking the Selective Services Act. This viral video comes close on the heels of news reports stating that Biden has decided how the US will respond to a drone strike by Iran-backed militants that killed three American troops in Jordan last weekend.
Images of Biden in military uniform, indicating that the US was on a war footing, had recently gone viral amid the Middle East tensions, which Newschecker had found to be AI-generated.
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Fact Check
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “military draft US Joe Biden”, which led us to multiple news reports quashing the rumours that Biden is going to bring back the military draft, enlisting young men to fight wars in the Middle East. There were no credible reports of Biden calling for a military conscription after three US troops were killed by Iran-backed militants in Jordan.
“Again, there’s absolutely no indication that Biden or anyone else in the U.S. military establishment has plans to bring back the draft. But the claims seem to be rooted in the idea that an expanded war in the Middle East is just over the horizon. The U.S. has engaged in strikes against targets in Yemen and Syria since the terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023. And three U.S. service members died on Sunday in Jordan after a drone attack by Iran-backed fighters in east Syria,” read a Forbes report, dated January 30, 2024. A similar report can be seen here.
Newschecker noticed that the audio in the viral video was inconsistent, along with the unnatural movements of the mouth, both indicators of AI manipulation. Also, there were no references to the Jordan situation, but only to the earlier Russia-Ukraine crisis, further raising our doubts.
We then ran the video past Deepware, a community-driven open-source Deepfake detection tool, which said it was “suspicious”.
Newschecker learnt that this Biden deepfake had gone viral multiple times in the past, in February 2023 and after the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7, 2023, which saw the White House and the National Security Council say the conscription claims are false. The AFP, Reuters and Snopes reports also point us to the original video, dated December 8, 2021, where Biden spoke about lowering insulin costs, that had been altered.
Also Read: Video Of Chinese Motivational Speaker Falsely Shared As TikTok Founder
Conclusion
Deepfake video of US President Joe Biden calling for military conscription following the recent drone attack in Jordan has gone viral.
Result: Altered Media
Sources
Forbes report, January 30, 2024
Video analysis
Deepware, a deepfake detection tool
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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.
