A video clip is going viral on social media in Pakistan, purportedly showing Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traore calling on the people of Pakistan to “awaken” and free former prime minister Imran Khan, who has been in prison since 2023.
The claim is false. The video has been generated using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Claim
On May 30, a user on Facebook shared over a 50-second video clip with the caption: “Imran Khan is not only the leader of Pakistan but also of the entire Muslim Ummah, Imran Khan should be released as soon as possible.”
In the video, Burkina Faso’s President Traore can be heard saying: “I am Ibrahim, the elected president of Africa and today I want to deliver a message to every corner of the world. Oh, people of Pakistan, you should be ashamed, your leader Imran Khan, who is not just the leader of Pakistan but of the entire Muslim Ummah is in jail today and you are sitting silent. Do you not have any pride? Have you forgotten that he fought for you and that he went to jail for you? If the people of Pakistan do not awaken, listen, the people of Africa will awaken and will free our brother from this imprisonment.”
At the time of writing, this post had been viewed over 33,000 times and shared over 960 times.
Fact
The video was created with publicly available AI tools, confirmed an independent analysis.
Asad Baig, the founder of Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) in Islamabad, analysed the viral clip and told Geo Fact Check that the video is a poor-quality AI-generated clip.
“The background is blurred. His [Ibrahim Traore] features do not move [naturally] with him. His skin is overly smooth. Same goes for the body and arms,” said Baig, “It seems like something you would see in a video game.”
Additionally, by a Google reverse image search, Geo Fact Check found that the video was first posted on May 25, on a YouTube channel with the caption: “Speech of Captain Ibrahim Traore.”
However, the description clearly stated that the video was “entirely fictional content” created for entertainment purposes only. Even in this AI-video there was no mention of Imran.
The YouTube video can be seen here:
Verdict: The video circulating on social media purportedly showing the Burkina Faso’s president calling for the release of Imran is a deepfake.
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