Compilation video of Zelenskyy belly dancing includes AI deepfakes
A compilation video supposedly showing three clips of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dancing has been reshared online.
But, as we have written about before, two of the clips actually show other people.
The video compilation has been shared on Facebook and Instagram, with overlaid text claiming it shows the President of Ukraine.
The first clip shows a man who looks like Mr Zelenskyy on stage in a sparkly gold one-piece. However, it is actually an Argentinian dancer named Pablo Acosta, who posted the original video of himself in June 2023.
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He has also shared several similar clips of him dancing in the same outfit against the same backdrop.
It appears that Mr Zelenskyy’s face has been superimposed onto the original video and another version of the clip on X claiming to show President Zelenskyy also flagged in Meta’s AI detection tool.
Blurring clips is a common method of hiding visual glitches and making miscaptioned or edited photos or videos look more convincing. We have previously seen it in video game footage claiming to show real warzones and face-swapped videos.
The second black and white clip is genuine footage from President Zelenskyy’s career as a comic actor before his election in 2019. The video, from 2014, features him and three other men parodying a Ukrainian boy band’s music video.
The final clip appears to show the politician belly dancing in a red outfit at an 18th birthday party. In February 2022, a video of an unidentified dancer in the same costume with the same background was shared on Instagram.
As we have explained before, there are clues that this footage has been digitally altered to create a deepfake version of President Zelenskyy. When it is slowed down there appears to be glitches on the face of the dancer.
Other versions of the video shared on Instagram and TikTok also contain AI signatures according to Meta’s AI detection tool.
If you suspect that something online might have been digitally altered, our guide on how to spot deepfake videos and our misinformation toolkit provide practical tools to help you tell whether something is genuine.
