A video report purportedly published by Firstpost is being circulated on the internet with a claim that it shows AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi accepting that he knew the shooters of the Bondi beach terror attack.
What did the viral post say?: An X (formerly Twitter) premium user shared the clip with a caption that said, "Asaduddin Owaisi drops a bombshell in interview with Pallavi Sharma: He knew the Akram brothers—Naveed and Sajid—from UP. Calls Sajid a "decent man" whose son is mentally unwell. (sic)."
What are the facts?: The video report has been created using the help of two old and manipulated clips. There is no evidence to prove that Owaisi indeed made such a statement. This makes the viral claim false.
How did we find that out?: At first, we went through the Firstpost's official YouTube channel but did not find any such report aired by them.
Next, we checked anchor Palki Sharma's videos on the channel and came across a video posted on 25 November.
It was titled, "Taiwan: What Xi Jinping Wants From Donald Trump | Vantage with Palki Sharma."
This particular video report showed Sharma dressed in the same attire as seen in the viral claim.
Details about Owaisi's video: On conducting a Google Lens search on the keyframes of the viral report, we came across an old clip published on the official X handle of Asian News International (ANI).
The video was uploaded on 12 October.
Its caption said, "#WATCH | On Jan Suraaj Founder Prashant Kishor's factor in Bihar polls, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi says in an interview to ANI, "...We've fielded good candidates, so we have to work hard. It's everyone's right to contest elections. I see my own factor. I don't see others factor. They will contest, let them contest. We have to ensure that our party's candidates succeed..."."
In this clip, Owaisi could be seen dressed in the same attire and sitting in front of the same background. This indicated that the viral video carried a manipulated version.
What did detection tools show?: Team WebQoof passed the video through an AI detection tool named 'DeepFake-O-Meter' to further verify its authenticity.
Two of tool's detectors showed conclusive results indicating that the video report had an AI-generated/manipulated likelihood.
Conclusion: Evidently, the viral video report purportedly aired by Firstpost is fake and has been created to mislead the viewers.
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