An AI-generated video showing an aerial view of a large crowd is being shared on social media, falsely linking it to the recent protest held by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in Pune on June 11.
CJP founder Abhijit Dipke and Ladakh climate activist Sonam Wangchuk led the protest in Pune and announced a nationwide protest campaign demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged irregularities in CBSE and NEET examinations. They also released a five-point exam manifesto seeking reforms to protect students from exam-related disruptions.
The Claim:
A video showing drone footage of a large crowd is being shared by handles claiming that it is from the CJP protest in Pune on June 11.
Click here to view the Archive.
What We Found:
1) Protest Location Mismatch
The CJP protest in Pune was held in front of the Ambedkar Statue on the campus of Savitribai Phule Pune University. We geolocated the location and found that it does not match the visuals from the viral video. Additionally, the location and surroundings look completely different from the viral video.
2) Distorted Buildings
Upon analysing the key frames of the video, we found several visual discrepancies, such as distorted structures, which indicate that the video was made using AI.
3) Instagram Handle Confirms Use of AI
We reached out to the Instagram handle Mohsin Sultan (mohsin_sultan_official), who had posted the original video. Sultan confirmed to BOOM that he generated the video using AI. BOOM has previously fact-checked another AI-generated drone video posted by the same handle, which had gone viral as footage from the CJP's protest in Delhi.