AI Video Shared as WB Education Minister Bratya Basu Taking Bribe Amid Elections

Multiple discrepancies and detection tools confirmed that the audio and the video were created using AI.

Fact-Check | The video has been generated using the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Amid the ongoing West Bengal elections, a purported video of the state's Education Minister Bratya Basu is being shared on social media platforms with a claim that it shows him taking cash and then signing a document.

What did users say?: An X (formerly Twitter) user named 'Agnimitra Paul BJP' shared the clip with a caption that said, "Allegations are emerging against West Bengal’s Education Minister, Bratya Basu, with claims that bribes are being taken after file approvals. Such serious charges demand a transparent and impartial investigation."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

This above post had gained over five thousand views on the platform. You can view other claims here and here.

What's the truth?: The claim is false. Multiple discrepancies and detection tools confirmed that the audio and the video were created using the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Discrepancies in the viral video: After carefully going through the viral video, we noticed that Basu's right hand looked abnormally large and appeared to be merging while he was seen taking the cash.

• In the same frame, one can see that his left hand seems blurred.

This frame carried multiple discrepancies.

(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

• When Basu is seen flipping through the pages, his fingers disappear for a brief moment and his last finger appears to be bent. These findings raised questions about the authenticity of the viral video.

The fingers seemed to merge with each other when Basu was seen flipping through the pages.

(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

No news reports: We did not find any credible news reports or information available in the public domain about such an incident. If something like this had indeed happened, it would have attracted nationwide media coverage.

What did Gemini show?: Team WebQoof ran the viral video through Gemini and asked it to check its authenticity using SynthID.

• The tool responded by saying, "The analysis indicates that parts of the visual content in this video were edited or generated using Google AI. Specifically, markers were identified in the visual sequence between the 10 and 20-second marks. No such indicators were found in the audio track of the file."

The tool confirmed that it was indeed generated using Google AI.

(Source: Gemini/Screenshot)

What did detection tools show?: We passed the video through the detection tool named 'DeepFake-O-Meter' to further verify its authenticity. Three detectors of the tool clearly showed that the viral clip was likely AI.

Three detectors showed that the video was likely AI.

(Source: DeepFake-O-Meter/Screenshot)

• Next, we checked the audio on another tool called 'Resemble AI'. It showed the audio was fake as well.

The tool showed that the audio was fake.

(Source: Resemble AI/Screenshot)

Conclusion: It is evident that the video has been created using AI and does not show real visuals.

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