Claim: A video shows Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President, Maryam Nawaz dancing.
Fact: The video is a deepfake altered by replacing the dancer’s face with Maryam Nawaz’s to create the impression that she is the one dancing. It actually shows Indonesian model, Jihane Almira Chedid.
How are deepfakes created?
An article published by Bloomberg stated that creating deepfakes involves training an algorithm through a process of “deep learning” real video recordings of a specific individual. This allows for the substitution of elements from one video, such as a person’s face, into another piece of content. These manipulations become particularly deceptive when combined with voice-cloning technology.
Fact or Fiction?
On 22 November 2023, X (formerly Twitter) user Tony Pakistani (@PKMARKHOR1) shared a video which shows PML-N’s leader, Maryam Nawaz, dancing.
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search of key frames in the video, which led us to two videos uploaded, here and here on YouTube in August 2021. As per the title of the video, it shows Jihane Almira Chedid’s belly dance for Miss Supranational 2021.
Some visual clues helped us ascertain that the viral video shared on social media is a deepfake, a technology which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate videos in which an individual’s face or body is manipulated. The dancer appears to be wearing attire that is identical to that of the politician’s video. The disproportionate head clearly indicates that someone else’s image has been superimposed onto the figure seen in the viral video.
Sifting through the photographs on the model’s official Instagram account further confirmed to us that the woman in the YouTube video is, in fact, Chedid herself.
Jihane Almira Chedid is an Indonesian actor and fashion model who represented Indonesia at the beauty pageant, Miss Supranational 2021, in Nowy Sącz, Poland, on 21 August 2021. According to a report, she finished in the Top 12 and won the title of Miss Supranational Asia 2021.
A video of the model’s full performance at the pageant confirms that she participated in the competition.
Virality:
A screenshot from the viral video was shared here on X. The video was also posted on the platform in 2022, here, here and here.
On Facebook, we found screenshots from the video shared here, here, here and here with the following caption:
“سنا ھے مریم نواز کی سومنگ پول میں نہانے کی کوئی ویڈیو جاری کی گئی ہے
[It has been heard that a video of Maryam Nawaz bathing in Swimming pool has been released]”
Conclusion: A 2021 video which shows the Indonesian model, Jihane Almira Chedid belly dancing, was manipulated using deepfake technology to falsely portray PML-N’s leader Maryam Nawaz dancing in place of the model.
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