A news report purportedly published by NDTV World, which talked about the recent Tejas fighter jet crash at Dubai Airshow, is going viral on social media platforms.
What does the report show?: The anchor in the video could be heard saying, "We are investigating the shocking reason behind the Tejas jet crash at the Dubai Airshow. A major revelation has emerged. An internal report claims the jet wasn't clear to fly yet it took off. This begs the burning question - who put the pressure from the top on the chain? Who is the powerful hand that forced this takeoff leading to this national embarrassment?. Whether this is a pilot error or no pilot error, but this one thing that has emerged is very very big."
An archive of a similar claim could be accessed here. We received a query about the viral video on our WhatsApp tipline as well.
What's the truth?: The video has been manipulated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The original report did not carry any such statement.
How did we find that out?: Team WebQoof conducted a keyword search with the words "ndtv world tejas jet crash" on YouTube and found the actual video report on NDTV World's official channel.
It was shared on 21 November with a title that said, "Tejas Crash Dubai | NDTV Ground Report: How Tejas Fighter Jet Crashed In Dubai."
The anchor did not make any such statement that was heard in the viral video.
Problems with the viral clip: In the viral video, the anchor could be heard speaking in a different accent as compared to the actual NDTV report.
Further, the lip-movement did not match the words that were heard.
These discrepancies raised doubts about the authenticity of the viral clip.
We then passed it through a detection tool named 'DeepFake-O-Meter'. Four of its detectors showed results indicating that the video was indeed AI-generated/manipulated.
PIB, too, debunks the claim: Press Information Bureau's (PIB) fact-checking wing clarified on its official X handle that the video was AI-manipulated.
The post shared on 24 November mentioned, "Beware of coordinated attempts to spread misinformation during such sensitive situations."
Conclusion: The NDTV World video report has been manipulated using AI to mislead the viewers.
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