Claim: Several clips show women from the Pakistan Army calling on people to join a rally in support of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Fact: The videos in question are AI-generated.
A Facebook user posted a reel purportedly showing a female Pakistan Army soldier announcing that a peaceful protest will be held on 8 February to call for the release of Imran Khan.The urdu-language audio translates to:
“Assalamu Alaikum, I am Lieutenant Zoya. I want to tell you all that God willing, on February 8th, the whole of Pakistan will be one voice. We will peacefully close every city and every street. This country for the release of Imran Khan…”
The caption of the reel further states: “Release Imran Khan💪🇧🇫| Imran Khan army| Release Imran Khan the great leader| Pak army full support Imran Khan| ik | pti tigers👉 support army| #releaseimrankhan #imrankhanarmy #imrankhan #804army #pti ik ptiofficial”.
A second similar clip shows a female soldier on the street at an apparent PTI gathering.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has called for protests on 8 February, demanding the release of the party’s founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been incarcerated on various charges since August 2023. Khan has denied any wrongdoing.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check analysed the videos and found them to be AI-generated.
Video 1 (archive): This clip is AI-generated, according to Soch Fact Check’s analysis.
We noted several features in the video which are typical of AI-generated content. The tag on the soldier’s uniform reads “Zoya”. However, on the left, the text on the second tag is either almost invisible or looks garbled.
Secondly, the emblem of the Pakistani flag on the soldiers uniform is portrayed inaccurately. The upside down crescent and star look like a mirrored version of the official Pakistani flag, and the white stripe runs through right-side and bottom of the flag instead of appearing as a single vertical stripe on the left.
Clip with an upside-down Pakistani flag and almost invisible nonsensical text.
A TikTok version of the same clip (archive) was also posted by the user with the same account title and profile picture as on Facebook. It is labelled: “Contains AI-generated media”.
Soch Fact Check then ran the clip through multiple AI detection tools, which confirmed it is fake. Hive Moderation gave the video an aggregate score of 99.9%, indicating that “overall, the video is likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content”.
Results from Hive Moderation.
Finally, Soch Fact Check also ran the clip through Deepfake-O-Meter, an initiative of the University at Buffalo. 8 of 11 algorithms yielded probabilities above 50%, indicating a high likelihood that the clip is AI-generated.
Results from Deepfake-o-Meter.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes the clip is AI-generated.
Video 2 (archive): This clip is also AI-generated.
We noted several signs that are typical of AI-generated content. The Pakistani flag pinned on the soldier’s uniform and cap are portrayed inaccurately. They appear to be a flipped version of the original (indicated in the image below).
Her uniform has Pakistani flags upside down, one missing a star, and facing upwards.
Moreover, PTI’s flag is portrayed inaccurately. The party’s flag typically contains two stripes —green and red —, but in this clip, the flags have three stripes. Second, the letter K appears randomly on the flag, whereas the text beneath the crescent is illegible.
Flags with gibberish text and extra stripes are a sign of AI.
On the left is the AI-generated flag with three stripes. On the right is the original PTI flag with two stripes.
Similar to the first clip, this one (archive) was also uploaded to TikTok with a label that declares it “contains AI-generated media”.
Soch Fact Check also ran the clip through two AI tools. Hive Moderation yielded a 99.9% probability, indicating that “the video is likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content”.
Hive results for the second clip.
On Deepfake-O-Meter, 9 out 11 algorithms yielded probabilities of the video being AI-generated above 50%.
Deepfake-O-Meter’s results for the second clip.
Moreover, an analysis of the account that uploaded the above AI-generated videos shows that it has posted similar clips that are likely AI-generated as well.
Based on results from two online detection tools, and our independent analysis, Soch Fact Check concludes that both videos are AI-generated.
Virality
The first Facebook clip garnered 11,300 reactions and was re-shared 844 times. It also appeared on TikTok here.
The second Facebook clip garnered 16,700 reactions and was shared 3,000 times.
It also appeared on TikTok here.
Conclusion: Both videos are AI-generated.
Background image in cover photo: The News International
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com