A video of former Indian Army chief General Ved Prakash Malik is being circulated on social media with a claim that it shows him praising Pakistan and admitting the destruction of Rafale & S-400 systems.
Those sharing the clip have captioned it saying, "Ex COAS General V.P. Malik "During Operation Sindoor, we didn't even cross each other's border. Technological advancement is so immense. Pakistan has better weapons and equipment. Destruction of Rafales & S400 systems is a testament to their superiority over India. We need to improve our equipments." (sic)."
What's the truth?: The viral video has been manipulated using the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The original clip did not show General Malik praising Pakistani or admitting to the destruction of Rafale.
How did we find that out?: Using the help of Google Lens, we conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video and found a clip published on the official X (formerly Twitter) handle of ANI.
It was shared on 13 December.
The post's caption said, "#WATCH | Indore, MP: Former Indian Army chief General Ved Prakash Malik (Retd) says, "As I said, human resource was used a lot during Operation Vijay. There was a physical fight. During Operation Sindoor, we didn't even cross each other's border. Technological advancement is so immense. We now have standoff weapons; both nations have them now. So we can hit each other while being away from the border. So, there has been a great technological advancement that has been adopted by both countries...But definitely, in India we have better weapons and equipment."."
We found that General Malik did not make any statement praising Pakistan or admitting to the destruction of Indian military equipment.
What did detection tools show?: Team WebQoof passed the video through two AI detection tools namely — 'Hive Moderation' and 'DeepFake-O-Meter'.
The first tool showed over 97 percent probability of the video being an AI one.
Three detectors of the second tool gave conclusive results of the viral video having AI-generated likelihood.
This tool showed over 97 percent probability of the video being an AI one.
(Source: Hive Moderation/Screenshot)
PIB debunks the viral claim: The fact-checking wing of Press Information Bureau (PIB), on its official X handle, clarified that the video of General Malik was doctored.
The post shared on 14 December said, "This video is #Fake and has been digitally manipulated using AI tools. Gen. Ved Prakash Malik (Retd) has NOT made any such remarks..."
Conclusion: It is evident that the viral video of General Malik has been altered using the help of AI tools.
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