A video, which shows Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promoting an investment application which purportedly allows users to quadruple their investment is being shared on social media.
It also shows Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, who reassures people about the app’s safety and financial returns.
Is it true?: No, the video is a deepfake and has been created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) , which manipulated existing videos of Sitharaman and Das to mislead viewers.
How did we find out?: We ran a keyword search using the term ‘Nirmala Sitharaman investment application’, but did not find any relevant results.
Next, we conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens to look for the original video of Sitharaman.
This led us to a video in CNN-News18’s verified YouTube channel, which was an exclusive interview of the finance minister.
In this video, she talks about the finance ministry and policies under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term in office and narrative setting in the media.
There is no mention of an investment application anywhere in the video.
Similarly, a search on Das’ image led us to a report by The Hindu, which carried the same image and mentioned that it showed Das during a press conference on 9 October.
Taking a cue from this, we looked for the video on the RBI’s YouTube channel, and found that Das was addressing a press conference after presenting a monetary policy statement at RBI’s headquarters in Mumbai on 9 October, 2024.
Here, too, there was no mention of any investment application promising good returns on investment.
These searches made it clear that the video in the claim is not an authentic one.
Was AI used?: Since both Sitharaman and Das’ mouths seem match the words heard in the video in some parts and not the others, we submitted these videos to AI content detectors online.
We ran the video through TrueMedia’s AI detection tool, whose results found “substantial evidence of manipulation.”
TrueMedia also analysed the transcript of the video and found “several red flags that suggest it is fake,” as the language used resembled a “scam or advertisement.”
The report added that the claim of high returns on small investments resembled fraudulent schemes and the inclusion of a link to a website at the end was a “common tactic” used to scammers to trick people into providing personal information or money.
Its in-depth analysis of voices and visuals in the clip found strong evidence of the video being a deepfake, as Das and Sitharaman’s faces were found to be manipulated.
The report also showed completed confidence that the audio was AI-generated.
Conclusion: The video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and RBI governor Shaktikanta Das talking about an investment application is a deepfake.
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