Did Palki Sharma Talk About Poor Protocol During PM Modi’s Jordan Visit? No!
The video has been manipulated using AI and does not show authentic coverage of PM Modi's visit to Jordan.
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A video showing a report by news organisation Firstpost journalist Palki Sharma Upadhyay talking about low-level protocol being followed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Jordan is being shared on social media.
What does she say?: In the clip, Sharma purportedly says, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s recent visit to Jordan has raised serious diplomatic questions. In the past, Prime Minister Modi received a warm and high-level welcome during his visit to Jordan. However, this time, reports indicate a lower level of protocol, with King Abdullah II not receiving Prime Minister Modi at the airport."
She adds that the move drew attention as the Iraqi prime minister was "personally received at the airport by King Abdullah II during an official visit," and that the contrast has raised a debate over why similar protocol was not extended to Prime Minister Modi.
(Archives of more claims can be seen here, here, here, and here.)
Is it true?: No, the video has been altered using artificial intelligence (AI) and does not show an authentic report.
While it is true that King Abdullah II of Jordan did not receive PM Modi at the airport, he personally drove the latter to Jordan's biggest museum and saw PM Modi off.
This makes the claim misleading in nature.
How do we know?: We began by looking for details about PM Modi's visit to Jordan.
On his X account, he shared a post on 15 December, where he mentioned being received by Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hasan at the airport.
The photos did not show King Abdullah II, making this part of the claim true.
However, a post by news agency ANI showed that Crown Prince Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II had personally driven PM Modi to the Jordan Museum.
Photos of this visit to the museum were also shared by the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan's official X account.
This account shared more visuals of PM Modi meeting King Abdullah, such as this one about the two leaders attending the opening session of the India-Jordan business forum.
It also shared another post about the monarch and the prime minister holding talks at the Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman.
PM Modi also shared a post about the crown prince coming to see him off as he departed from Jordan.
What about the report?: We looked for the report on Firstpost's official YouTube channel.
This led us to a video, streamed on 17 December 2025, which showed Sharma in the same clothing as the viral claim.
In this episode of her show, Sharma discussed the fall of the rupee, the Russia-Ukraine war, US President Donald Trump and the drug fentanyl, the Bondi Beach terror attack, Elon Musk's net worth, and PM Modi's Jordan visit, among other topics.
At the 33:25-minute mark, she began discussing PM Modi's diplomatic visit to Jordan.
She mentioned him being welcomed by Jordan's prime minister, speaking about the points PM Modi praised about Jordan, noting that the trip marked PM Modi's first full diplomatic visit to the nation.
Additionally, she mentioned the crown prince's "warm gesture" of personally driving PM Modi, touching upon the bilateral agreements the two leaders made during the diplomatic visit.
Is it AI?: To check whether the video was altered using AI, we ran the clip through Hiya's Deepfake Voice Detector.
Their tool gave the audio an authenticity score of five out of 100, noting that the "sampled voice is likely a deepfake."
The audio was found to be a deepfake.
(Source: Hiya/Screenshot)
However, Hive Moderation's tool did not identify this video as one containing AI-generated elements.
PIB clarifies: The Press Information Bureau's fact-checking wing addressed the claim on their social media accounts, calling it an "AI-manipulated video."
"The video in circulation is fake and has been digitally altered using AI tools," it noted.
Conclusion: An AI-manipulated video is being falsely shared as an authentic Firstpost report about "serious diplomatic questions" about protocol being raised during PM Modi's visit to Jordan.
No diplomatic concerns have been raised about the same.
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