Deepfake Of Charles III Commenting On Donald Trump And Iran Viral As Real

A viral AI-generated clip of British Monarch Charles III is being falsely shared on social media as a real footage of him reprimanding United States President Donald Trump for the recent airstrikes on Iran by the US.

On June 22, the US officially entered the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel by conducting airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities—Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

Claim:

A viral video shows Charles III saying, "When Donald Trump says Iran can be erased. When generals whisper of bunker busters and tactical firepower, and when Israel’s skies glow with the sparks of retaliation, I do not stay silent. I will not let the world be dragged into chaos by those who speak louder than they think. Mr. Trump, this is not a game of missiles. This is the fate of millions…”

What We Found:

Video has been overlaid with an AI-generated voice clone of Charles III, and is not an authentic recording. The visuals have been taken from a video of his first address to the nation following the death of his predecessor Elizabeth II.

Video taken from 2022 footage: A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to a video uploaded on September 9, 2022 by the British Royal Family's official YouTube channel where Charles III is seen giving his first address to the nation following the death of his mother and predecessor Elizabeth II. The video predates the US-Iran conflict, and is therefore unrelated.

Audio is AI-generated: BOOM consulted with its partners at the Deepfakes Analysis Unit, who ran the audio track through AI audio detection tools Hiya and Hive AI. Both the tools indicated a strong likelihood of the audio being AI-generated. BOOM also independently ran the audio through detection tool Resemble AI and several AI audio detection models on Deepfake-o-meter. Resemble indicated that the audio is likely AI-generated, and three out of six detection models on Deepfake-o-meter indicated a high likelihood of the same.