A digitally altered video of journalist Ravish Kumar where he is heard criticising the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders for not joining the ongoing Jharkhand students’ protest, is viral on social media as an authentic report.
BOOM found that the video has been manipulated using AI. The clip shows unnatural jaw movements, and running it through AI detection tools confirmed it to be synthetic.
Since July 25, students in Jharkhand have been protesting alleged irregularities in the state government recruitment exams, including the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC). They are demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the matter. On August 10, they marched to the Jharkhand Assembly as a part of their demonstration.
The Claim:
The two-minute clip, in which Kumar purportedly criticises AAP and CJP leaders for not joining the Jharkhand protests, is being shared on social media with claims that he 'exposed' CJP.
What We Found:
1) Original video of Ravish Kumar talking about Pralhad Joshi
A reverse image search led BOOM to the source video, which was digitally altered to create the viral clip. In the original video, posted on July 29 on Kumar's official YouTube channel, he is heard discussing Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi's background and his affiliation with the RSS.
2) Results from AI detection tools
Kumar's jaw movement appears unnatural in the viral video, a common characteristic of deepfakes. We also ran the video through Deepfake O Meter and Hive Moderation's AI detection tools, which flagged it as AI-generated.