Associated Incidents
Recently, a video has been circulated across various internet platforms, claiming to show a speech by Burkina Faso's military officer and President Ibrahim Traoré under the title: "Protesting Western Media's False Representation of Africa and the West's Economic Exploitation of Africa."
See the posts circulated on Facebook making this claim here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
See the video on YouTube making the same claim here (archive).
See the video on Instagram making the same claim here (archive).
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner team's investigation reveals that the video of Burkina Faso's President Ibrahim Traoré delivering a speech is not real. In fact, the deepfake video claiming to show Ibrahim Traoré's speech was created with the help of artificial intelligence and is being circulated as authentic.
During the investigation, a video titled "Ibrahim Traoré EXPOSES Western Media: 'We're Recording Every Lie You Tell About Africa'" was found on the YouTube channel Univers Inspirant, published on May 25. The video being circulated under the claim closely resembles this one.
In the detailed description of this video, under the heading "IMPORTANT NOTICE," it is stated that the video is entirely based on fictional content and was created for entertainment purposes only. While the content is inspired by real-world events, all the scenarios, dialogues, and characters portrayed are entirely fictional. Although inspired by the life of Ibrahim Traoré, the depicted events and dialogues are not real and are part of an artistic creation. The video is not directly related to any real person or institution. The purpose of this video is not to deliver a political message but solely for entertainment and artistic expression. Viewers are advised to conduct their own research on the matter.
Additionally, the same description labels the content as "altered or synthetic content," indicating that its audio and visuals were significantly edited or digitally created.
Based on the above information, a 15-second clip from the circulated video was uploaded to the AI detection website Hive Moderation, which showed a 99% probability that the audio and 100% probability that the video were AI-generated.
Similarly, uploading the clip to the AI detection site Sensity indicated a 95% probability that the audio and a 98% probability that the video were generated using AI technology.
Therefore, the deepfake video falsely claiming to show a speech by Burkina Faso's President Ibrahim Traoré is being circulated as if it were real --- which is false.
Sources
- Univers Inspirant -- Ibrahim Traoré EXPOSES Western Media: 'We're Recording Every Lie You Tell About Africa'
- Hive Moderation -- Website