A video of Asaduddin Owaisi's speech is being shared on social media platforms with a false claim that the footage shows the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief reciting a Hindu prayer.
BOOM found that the video has been altered and is a deepfake. Forensic analysis through a detection tool developed by the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur (IIT Jodhpur) confirmed the video has been manipulated using deep learning technology. In his original speech, Owaisi was speaking about beef exports from India.
The viral 34-second doctored clip shows Owaisi reciting a hymn dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, which is also known as Shiv Tandav Stotram.
The video is being shared with a Telugu caption that translates to, "Shiva Tandava Stotram from the mouth of Saheb as Madhavi Lata garu competes Well said sir, if you see to it that there are no communal clashes you will win again - my own opinion".
(Original Text in Telugu: మాధవీ లత గారు పోటీ చేస్తారు అనగానే సాహెబ్ గారి నోటినుండి శివ తాండవ స్తోత్రం అద్భుతంగా చెప్పారు సార్, మత ఘర్షణలు లేకుండ చూసుకుంటే మీరే మళ్లీ గెలుస్తారు-నా సొంత అభిప్రాయం)
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Fact Check
BOOM found that the viral video is a deepfake.
We traced the video to an X handle called 'Erri Gulabi', whose logo is also visible in the video.
The account describes itself as a profile sharing 'Comedy, Meme' videos with edits. The handle posted the same video on March 8, 2024.
The video was accompanied by a caption reading, "Hara Hara Mahadeva Shambho Shankara," along with hashtags referencing the celebration of Maha Shivaratri on March 8 this year.
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We then broke the video into keyframes and ran a reverse image search on several of these frames. The search led us to a post by the verified X account of the AIMIM, wherein Owaisi can be seen delivering a speech against a backdrop similar to that of the viral video.
The video was uploaded on October 26, 2022.
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Following this lead, we found a longer version of Owaisi's speech on AIMIM's official YouTube channel, which was premiered on October 26, 2022. The segment that went viral spans from the 9:36-minute mark to the 9:56-minute mark.
In the original video Owaisi was speaking about beef exports from India.
We were also able to find a similar audio in a video uploaded by a YouTube channel named Deep Trivedi Official on April 20, 2020. The video was posted with a caption, "Shiv Tandav Stotram by Arvind Trivedi - Lankesh who Played Ravan in Ramayan TV Serial".
BOOM also reached out to experts to conduct a forensic analysis of the video. itisaar.ai a tool, developed by the Image Analysis and Biometric Lab (IAB) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur, confirmed the use of lip-sync techniques using deep learning algorithms in the video.
Thus confirming the altered video is a deepfake.