A video showing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates abruptly ending an interview after being accused of profiting off the pandemic by selling COVID-19 vaccines that caused "side effects and deaths", is being widely shared on the internet as a real.
BOOM investigated the video, and found it to be deepfake - the audio was overlayed and the visuals were digitally altered with the use of machine learning. This was confirmed to us by Dr Dominic Lees, Deepfake researcher and Associate Professor of Filmmaking at the University of Reading, UK, who told as that a number of techniques - such as voice cloning and obscuration through quality reduction - have been used to create the fake video.
We also watched the original interview shown in the video in its entirety, and found that neither was Gates accused of profiting off the pandemic by selling harmful vaccines by the interviewer, nor did he end the interview abruptly as shown in the viral video.
The 1.41 minutes-long viral video shows ABC News journalist Sarah Ferguson accusing and blaming Gates of stealing software, selling software filled with bugs, and alleging that he sold vaccines that caused side effects and deaths.
The video was tweeted by several social media users including lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who shared it with the caption, "Watch: Bill Gates talking about how he was uniquely qualified to promote the untested & dangerous Covid Vaccines! Would be funny if the man had not done so much damage to the world. But he is still feted in India. Indian Express recently invited him to deliver the Goenka lecture." The tweet was later deleted by him.
BOOM had previously debunked COVID-19 related misinformation tweeted by Bhushan.
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The same video was tweeted with false claims by other Twitter users. BOOM also received the same video on its WhatsApp Helpline number (7700906588)
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The video is also being circulated on Facebook with similar false claim.
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FACT-CHECK
Looking through the video, BOOM found certain indications suggesting that the video may have been altered - such as the words not matching the mouth movement as Gates and Ferguson speak.
We looked for the original video of the interview, which was uploaded by ABC News on January 31, 2023.
We watched the entirety of the 12.55 minute interview, and found Ferguson question Gates on a variety of issues from climate change, renewable energy, and conspiracy theories surrounding him that had gone viral during the pandemic.
We could not find a single instance in the interview, which matched the viral video. Ferguson, in the entire video, does not accuse Gates of stealing software, selling software with bugs or claim that he profited during the pandemic by selling vaccines that had side-effects and caused deaths. Furthermore, Gates is seen finishing the interview amicably, and does not end it abruptly, as seen in the viral video.
The complete interview can be seen below.
"It is what we call a 'cheapfake'
BOOM also reached out to Dr Dominic Lees, Deepfake researcher and Associate Professor of Filmmaking at the University of Reading, UK, who confirmed that the video had indeed been digitally altered.
Lees explained that very rudimentary techniques like voice cloning and obscuration through quality reduction have been employed to create deepfake, and termed it as a 'cheapfake'.
"A number of techniques have been used to create this fake video and to obscure the low quality of its video and audio deepfake. Voice cloning has been used to create the fake voices of Gates and his interviewer - this is the easiest part of the process and can be achieved with simple pieces of open source software." Dr Lees told BOOM.
Explaining how the audio had been overlayed in the viral video, he added, "The fake audio has been applied to a re-edited version of the interview, very badly. The re-edit itself includes a jump cut (1:38) on Bill Gates, something that cannot be achieved in a multicamera television studio. We can see the failure of lip synchronisation, in particular with the interviewer at timecode 0:59 and 1:09."
"The most obvious feature of this fake is the techniques of obscuring: a music track has been applied in order to distract the viewer's attention from the poor audio quality; the subtitles are placed so that they cover both faces, meaning it is harder for a viewer to notice the unconvincing video deepfake. The small size of the image indicates that it is what we call a 'cheapfake', using consumer deepfake software that can only deliver fake video at very low resolution," Dr Lees elaborated.
@bdti989's - A TikToker Who Posts Cheapfakes
Additionally, a Twitter user replied that the viral TikTok video was posted by the user @bdti989. We found the handle on TikTok, which had put out the viral video on March 8, 2023, with the hashtag "Artificial intelligence".
@bdti989 posted the video with the caption. "How AI can be dangerous"
Additionally, the TikTok account has been putting out Ceepfakes on other prominent personalities including US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.