A satirical video digitally altered with a voice-over imitating United States President Donald Trump is being shared on social media with the false claim that he has announced a new executive order which would ban Indian customer service representatives.
BOOM found that the viral video has been lifted from the satirical YouTube channel named Sobering Satire, who claimed overlaying the original audio with a voice-over by a human impersonator of Trump. We also found evidence of AI manipulation to edit Trump's lip movements.
The Trump administration has faced criticism over the treatment of Indian deportees, who were flown back to India on U.S. military transport flights. The latest deportation were reported last week, with 104 Indian migrants handcuffed and shackled during their journey on a U.S. military aircraft.
In the viral video, a reporter can be heard asking Trump to explain a new "customer service bill, to which Trump can be heard announcing an "executive order" banning "foreigners with thick accents" from customer service in the US. He can also be heard mocking the Indian accent, and rebuking companies for hiring Indians for lower wages instead of giving jobs to Americans.
The video is being shared on Facebook with a Hindi caption, which translates to English as, "If we want to join hands with America then population control is a must!!"
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BOOM also received the same video on our WhatsApp tipline number (7700906111) inquiring about it.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video was taken from a conservative satirical YouTube channel. The original footage is from a press conference held by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 10, 2025, during a dinner for GOP governors at Mar-a-Lago. The satirical video digitally alters the video with the fake voice over.
We observed a logo in the video with the name - Faux News - a satirical play on words of American news channel Fox News. We also noted a text above the ticker, which read "Sobering Satire."
Taking a cue from this, we did a keyword search on YouTube, and found the original video, posted a Conservative satirical YouTube channel - "Sobering Satire" on January 25, 2025.
The channel states explicitly that it's content is satirical, and also adds a text in the caption which states, "Trump impression & Performance by Clive. A.I. did NOT Write, Speak or Perform this video. It only masked Clive's face/performance."
We tested the audio used in the video posted by "Sobering Satire" using the AI detection tool Hiya.ai, which stated that the voice is authentic and has 89 per cent match with live human markers.
BOOM also consulted with our partners at the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), who ran the audio and the video through Hive's detection models. The audio analysis by Hive indicated to DAU that is unlikely AI-generated or AI-manipulated. This is consistent with the video creator claiming to use a voice-over with human impersonation.
The artist credited for Trump's voice-over - Micheal Clive - states on his website that he is a voice actor and comedian. We also found other videos posted on the channel crediting Clive for impersonating Trump.
Hive's AI video detector found it difficult to find convincing traces of AI-manipulation, and only marked one segment of the video showing evidence AI-manipulation on Trump's face.
Furthermore, on manually inspecting the video, we found several telltale signs of visual manipulation, specifically around Trump's lips as he speaks.
Original Footage Has No Mention Of Indian Customer Representatives
The original footage that has been used in the satirical video has been taken from January 25, 2025, during a press conference held by Trump at a dinner for GOP governors at Mar-a-Lago.
During this press conference Trump does not mention Indians or talk about any executive order on a "new costumer service bill".
Additionally, as of writing this article we did not find any statement by Trump taking about banning Indian customer service representatives.
In April 2016, when Trump was running as the Republican presidential candidate, during a campaign rally in Delaware, United States, he had used a fake accent to mock a call centre representative in India. However at the same time, he had gone on to describe India as a 'great place'.
