The claim
A video circulating online shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky belly dancing at a party.
Our conclusion
The video is a deepfake. The recordings were manipulated - Zelenskyj's face was artificially transferred to the face of another dancer.
What at first glance looks like a party video turns out to be a sophisticated deepfake upon closer inspection.
Ukrainian President Zelensky dancing at a party?
The video circulating on social media shows a person performing a belly dance in a red, white and black costume. Background decorations and balloons suggest an 18th birthday.
The viral claim: The dancer is none other than the Ukrainian president himself, as stated Facebook post or as seen here on X (Twitter)
By loading the tweet, you accept Twitter's privacy policy.
Learn more
Evaluation
The claim is false. The video is a deepfake, material manipulated using AI techniques. It does not show President Zelensky, but an unidentified man.
The facts
An analysis of the video shows digital discrepancies. When playback is slowed down, anomalies in the dancer's face become visible, indicating digital editing.
There is also a video that was recorded at an event but does not show President Zelensky. A reverse image search leads to a YouTube video from December 1, 2020 (min. 00:00 - 00:17).
On February 7, 2022, a similar video posted on Instagram. Here you can see the same unknown dancer in the same location, the video itself shows another excerpt from the dance performance.
President Zelenskyj was actually an entertainer before his political career and won in the Ukrainian version of “Let's Dance”. However, this video does not show him, but another person dancing.
Conclusion
This video is not real, it has been manipulated. Here an unknown man is dancing at a party. Zelensky's face was added to the video using deepfake technology.
Deepfakes, which imitate people's faces or voices, have become increasingly sophisticated and make it difficult to distinguish between reality and fakery.
To stay up to date, subscribe to our newsletter and take a look at our monthly online lectures and workshops .
Source: FullFact , Boom
Also read:
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )