By: Ankita Kulkarni
December 19 2023
Rishi Sunak’s video endorsing Elon Musk’s investment project is a deepfake
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Screenshot of posts circulating online. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict Fake
The viral video of Rishi Sunak has been digitally altered using AI to promote a fake investment project.
Claim ID b235b3e3
What's the claim?
Several users on Facebook shared a video that appears to show BBC news presenter Sarah Campbell talking about the U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promoting a new investment project by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
She states that with the project, Musk "aims to initiate a global fight against poverty, and the first country where the application is supposed to operate is Britain." Campbel then states a call was made for a comment from Sunak. The clip cuts to Sunak standing at a podium, talking about the application. At one point he says, "I and my surroundings have been earning through this application for several months." An archive version of the posts can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.
Screenshot of posts circulating online. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, we found that the video is a deepfake created using Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Musk has not introduced any such new investment projects for British residents.
What are the facts?
The social media posts carrying this video included a link redirecting the user to the web address "UKEXCLUSIVE.COM." The page displays the shopping platform for cycle accessories called "Cyclogy," but there is no actual information about the project.
Screenshot of the web page linked to the viral posts. (Source: UKEXCLUSIVE.COM/Screenshot)
We then traced the original video of the BBC presenter to a news broadcast uploaded on the official BBC News YouTube channel on November 24, 2023. In the broadcast, Campbell talks about former athlete Oscar Pistorius' upcoming parole hearing. Pistorius was jailed for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013.
We matched several of Campbell's gestures and noticed that her head movement at the 3:39 minute mark is the same as that in the viral video. At 4:16 timestamp, she looks down, and at 4:19, she flips her hair.
Comparison between the viral clip and the actual video posted on BBC News' official YouTube channel.
(Source: Facebook/YouTube/Screenshot)
Comparison between the viral clip and the actual video posted on BBC News' official YouTube channel.
(Source: Facebook/YouTube/Screenshot)
The Rishi Sunak video
Meanwhile, the Sunak clip was taken from a video uploaded to his official YouTube channel on November 20, 2023. The video is titled "LIVE: My speech on the long-term decisions we will take to grow the economy."
We can see Sunak in the same attire, and the backdrop of the speech is also the same.
Comparison between the viral clip and the actual video posted on Rishi Sunak's official YouTube channel.
(Source: Facebook/YouTube/Screenshot)
We watched the entire video; Sunak was talking at the Capital City College Group center in London about economic policies his government will adopt to speed up economic growth. There is no mention of Elon Musk anywhere in the live-streamed talk.
A shorter version of his speech highlighting key points has also been posted on his official X account. His speech transcript is available on the government website; neither mention the project nor Elon Musk.
Logically Facts has previously debunked similar deepfake videos promoting investment and trading platforms here and here. We have also published a detailed article on detecting AI-generated images and videos here.
The verdict
A deepfake video of U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been used to promote a false investment project from Elon Musk. The video was created using AI; the original footage does not promise or discuss such schemes. Therefore, we have marked this claim as fake.