A recent video circulating on various social media platforms, purportedly showing President Joe Biden threatening to impose sanctions on South Africa‘s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), if they win the upcoming elections, has been identified as a deep fake.
In the video, Biden is heard stating, “If the ANC wins the next election, we will impose immediate sanctions and declare South Africa an enemy state.
The whole of the European Union will back us with this, and together, we will fight for the freedom of South Africans. This is our message to the world.”
Investigations have revealed that the video is a product of artificial intelligence technology, specifically using the celebrity voice generator Parrot AI.
The fabricated claim suggests that sanctions will be enforced on South Africa should the ANC emerge victorious in the May 29, 2024 elections.
Sanctions are measures imposed on countries to express dissatisfaction with their actions against international laws.
The European Union (EU) has not placed any sanctions on South Africa, and there are currently no plans to do so.
Deepfake technology, which creates realistic but false content, was employed to produce the misleading video. Signs of manipulation, such as the artificial movements of Biden’s lips and the overall coarse quality of the video, indicate its inauthenticity.
Furthermore, a Google image search reveals multiple instances of the AI-generated screenshot being replicated in various contexts, sometimes depicting Biden speaking languages other than English.
No credible media sources have reported on Biden’s alleged threat, further discrediting the video’s authenticity.
