No, this video isn’t really of President Zelenskyy belly dancing

A deepfake video is being shared on social media alongside false claims it shows the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy belly dancing at an 18th birthday party.

The video clip has been recently circulating on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Threads, with many of the posts captioned: “This is the dude who is receiving billions from America …while Americans suffer.”

It features what appears to be President Zelenskyy in a red, white and black outfit, belly dancing in front of balloons—some shaped as the number 18—and a set of speakers.

But as we have explained in a previous fact check, although the footage looks fairly realistic, it has been modified using artificial intelligence (AI) to create a deepfake (where AI tools are used to mimic the face or voice of a public figure.)

A clip of the real dancer, without President Zelenksyy’s face superimposed, at an identical event was shared on Instagram in February 2022.

When comparing the two videos, there are clues that the one featuring the Ukrainian leader has been altered, with glitches occurring in the face of the dancer.

These include the face blending into the texture of the wall behind at around three seconds in, and the face becoming distorted when it turns in profile about 17 seconds into the clip.

Prior to becoming the leader of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy had been filmed dancing in his role as a comic actor (in which he featured in a group spoofing a Ukrainian boy band music video) and also when he won his country’s version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2006. 

We have written a number of times about images, video and audio that have been altered using AI, including a video allegedly showing Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz dancing in a cowboy hat and crop top and a fake image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a ventilator.

While increasingly realistic deepfakes and improving technology are making it ever harder to tell whether these kinds of videos are real, there are often clues that they may be altered or faked. Our guide to spotting deepfake videos and AI audio provides practical tools to help tell whether they’re genuine.