A set of videos is going viral showing a news anchor introducing a doctor who then goes on to suggest home remedies for curing glaucoma, hypertension and vision loss.
He further claims that no surgery or medication is needed , if one follows these tips.
Both the video have been shared by a Facebook page called 'India News' and have more than 534,000 and 162,000 views each.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
What's the truth?: AI-detection tools concluded that these videos have been digitally manipulated.
We also found the original videos of the doctor who isn't speaking about remedies related to eye issues.
How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video on Google and this led us to the original videos of the doctor's interviews.
VIDEO 1:
The videos show ophthalmologist Dr Rahil Chaudhary and the one of the original videos was uploaded on the YouTube channel of Ranveer Allahbadia on 29 March.
We noticed that Dr Chaudhary did not promote any soda for preventing/curing eye diseases during the podcast, as shown in the viral video.
In fact, he discussed different treatments, preventive measures and surgical procedures related to eye diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts.
Further, we also found research suggesting that drinking soda can increase the risk of eye diseases.
AI detection tool: True Media AI detection tool detected a substantial amount of audio manipulation in the viral video.
TrueMedia detected "substantial evidence of manipulation".
(Source: TrueMedia/Screenshot)
The tool detected manipulation in the audio of the clip with 100 percent confidence.
TrueMedia detected "substantial evidence of manipulation".
(Source: TrueMedia/Screenshot)
VIDEO 2:
The second video also features Dr Chaudhary claiming that drinking lemon water can instantly restore vision without any surgery or medications.
A reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the viral video led us to the original video shared on the Pachouli Wellness channel by Dr Preeti Seth.
This was shared on 30 January 2024 and in this video, Dr Chaudhary can be seen discussing important points about LASIK surgery.
In the original video, he never mentions drinking lemon water as an "instant cure for eye diseases."
AI detection tool: True Media AI detection tool detected a substantial amount of audio manipulation in the viral video.
TrueMedia detected "substantial evidence of manipulation".
(Source: TrueMedia/Screenshot)
The analysis returned with 100 percent confidence is audio manipulation and 99 percent with face manipulation.
TrueMedia detected "substantial evidence of manipulation".
(Source: TrueMedia/Screenshot)
We also shared the videos with ConTrails AI, a Bangalore-based startup, that has its own AI tools for detection of audio and video spoofs, for an analysis of the audio part of the claim.
Their analysis stated that the audio of both the clips appear to have AI manipulation (AI Audio clones).
Contrails AI detected manipulation in the audio.
(Source: Contrails AI/Screenshot)
Contrails AI detected manipulation in the audio.
(Source: Contrails AI/Screenshot)
Conclusion: Deepfake videos of doctors promoting home remedies for eye diseases is going viral as real videos.
(Note: The story has been edited to add ConTrails' analysis.)
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