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Oct 8, 2021 β€’ 34 tweets β€’ 26 min read β€’ Read on X
😱Video of New Zealand PM 'smoking crack'😱

#Real or #fake? Let’s find out. πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡πŸ‘‡ 1/...

#OSINT πŸ”Ž
#Verification πŸ“Ή
#SpeurJeMee? 🧐 #HowToOSINT Image
On 1 Oct. someone posts a video on #Twitter.

We see two videos superimposed. According to the caption , we would see the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern twice.

At the top she appears to be talking to #BillGates and at the bottom she appears to be using #crack. πŸ”ž2/. Image
We also find the same video in various other posts on #Twitter, #YouTube, #Facebook and on the alternative video site #BitChute.

In total, these videos were viewed more than 31,000 times. Let's verify! 3/...
The video states its source: t.me/endilluminati.

On the #Telegram chat app called 'End Iluminati' we search for 'New Zealand'.

We find the same video uploaded over a month and a half earlier, on 13 August 2021. This oldest version was viewed more than 10K. 4/... Image
People in this group might believe in a #ConspirayTheory: "The #Illuminati are the supposed overlords controlling the world’s affairs, operating secretly as they seek to establish a New World Order."

Those crack-smoking elites! πŸ‘Ώ5/...
We examine the origin of the two videos used in this widespread video compilation. We will start with the upper part and then examine the lower part.

The upper party is easy: we google for videos of Bill Gates and Jacinda ArdernπŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ. 6/... Image
The first result appears to be a video uploaded on YouTube by the Gates Foundation. It is a capture of a panel discussion in New York:

Looking from 0:14 (left), the footage appears to match the top video on social media (right).βœ… 7/... Image
Also the sound comes from this panel discussion and is authentic. βœ…

What about the crack-smoking video?

We try different reverse image searches, but the quality is too low. No results. 😒 8/...
Therefore, we search on YouTube with the query 'Jacinda Ardern Smoking'.

This brings us to the video 'Jacinda Ardern Smokes Cannabis' uploaded on 9 October 2020 on YouTube on the channel Genuine Fake. The channel says clearly it contains #deepfakes. 9/... ImageImage
You can watch the video here:

It's not allowed under πŸ”ž10/...
This video is 2:23 and thus longer than the 57-second compilation video. But certain fragments are similar.

Five days later a shorter version (51 seconds) was uploaded to another YouTube channel: New Zealand Green. Here it's not indicated this might be a #fake. 11/... Image
That channel contains activist videos of demonstrations pro legalisation of cannabis 🟨.

Both YouTube channels appear to be linked. The New Zealand Green channel advertises "my new channel - Genuine Fake" πŸŸ₯.

➑️So the video was probably uploaded twice by the same person. 12/.. Image
So one version (left) comes from a channel that makes it clear that it is a #fake: both by the name of the channel and by a caption "Really Fake" on the video πŸŸ₯.

The other video (right) does not show anything that at first sight points to a forgery. 13/... Image
At 0:18 in the Telegram video, we see the woman making a movement with her right hand (yellow frames). We also see this in the video of 'Genuine Fake' at 0:55.

This is not in the video of New Zealand Green.

Why is this important? 14/... Image
➑️So the video of 'End Illuminati' was based on the video where, at first glance, you are told that it is a #fake.

That is an indication of deliberate #deception. ❌❌15/...
We have a strong indication that this is a #deepfake, but can we prove it ❓❔❓ 16/...
If we upload a screenshot of the video to the #Bing search engine, it suggests that we are seeing New Zealand Labour politician Jacinda Ardern.

There is no evidence that this is a fake. πŸ˜•17/... Image
A local newspaper wrote about the video: "Now, it's clear within a few seconds that this isn't Jacinda Ardern. Firstly, the real Jacinda's nail game is much too strong to use press-ons of that nature. Secondly, it's just obviously not her face." 18/...

odt.co.nz/star-news/star…
Those who have already seen a lot of footage of the New ZealandπŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ PM could thus easily unmask the deepfake, according to Otago Daily Times.

But those less familiar with Ardern could just as easily fall for it, according to many comments.

Local knowledge =πŸ—οΈ
19/...
From the comments under the video on the YouTube channel Genuine Fake, the person who posted the video online also explicitly admits that it is a deepfake from an 'educational video' on 'joint-rolling'.

All leading to 'fake', but we want #proof!

20/... ImageImage
🀑The person also admits to liking 'to brew a conspiracy theory'.

Someone responds with the 'recipe' for this: 'three teaspoons of paranoia, two cups of social media and a sprinkle of "new world order"'. πŸ˜΅β€πŸ’«21/... Image
Comparing a photo of Jacinda Ardern (left) with the face in the video (right), two conspicuous patches of skin 🟨) are missing from her neck.

Missing details like that could indicate a forgery. ❌22/... Image
We also load the video into the deepfake detection tool of deepware.ai.

According to that #analysis, we see a #deepfake. ❌

The probability varies from computer model to computer model: from 54% certainty to 99% certainty. 23/... Image
⚠️BUT, be carful: these scanners can give an indication, but are not yet very reliable. ⚠️

For example, this scanner could not unmask a recent #deepfake of πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺ celebrity. πŸ‘‡ 24/...

Image
Conclusive #proof that this is a deepfake can only be found by finding the original images, to which the face was subsequently pasted via #AI.

I searched for many hours by reverse image search and other techniques...πŸ”Ž25/...
By using the crop tool in #Yandex and googling, I was able to identify objects in the video: the T-shirt πŸŸͺ, the microphone πŸŸ₯ and the rolling tray 🟩.

Unfortunately this info didn’t help me to find the original footage. 😒😒 26/... Image
But then I opened #Twitter and saw this tweet from my #OSINT-friend Ben Heubl (follow @Techjournalisto!).

@Techjournalisto @tthompsonfuller from @AfpFactual did find the original footage! πŸ₯³πŸΎπŸ₯³

Did he have better tools? Was he more clever?

Accoring to him: "As you know it's most just luck / trial and error." A simple Reverse Image Search in #Yandex did the trick! 28/... Image
@Techjournalisto @tthompsonfuller @AfpFactual The original footage was uploaded to YouTube on May 6, 2019 by a certain Kush Evelia titled '420 ASMR SMOKE SESH HOTBOXING MY BATHROOM | JOINT + JOINT BUBBLER'. 29/... Image
@Techjournalisto @tthompsonfuller @AfpFactual If we compare screenshots of Jacinda Ardern's #deepfake (left) with screenshots of the original images (right), it is clear that the face has been altered.

πŸ₯³WE FOUND PROOFπŸ₯³ 30/... Image
@Techjournalisto @tthompsonfuller @AfpFactual CONCLUSION: The person in the video smoked a #joint through a glass pipe and not #crack. That person is NOT Jacinda Ardern.❌❌❌

Btw, the Ardern admitted to smoking #cannabis in an interview. But as far as is known, there are no images of this. 31/34
nytimes.com/2020/10/01/wor…
@Techjournalisto @tthompsonfuller @AfpFactual @Knack What have we learned? πŸ‘©β€πŸ«

1) In reverse image search, you can only enforce #luck through #persistence. πŸ’ͺ

2) Don't rely on #deepfake #detection tools. False positives are possible. πŸ¦Ύβš”οΈ

3) #Deepfakes pop up: don't trust what you' see. πŸ‘€Check! 🧐33/34
@Techjournalisto @tthompsonfuller @AfpFactual @Knack Did you like this 🧡with #OSINT for #FactChecking?

I have more #SpeurJeMee? 🧐#HowToOSINT, underneath this tweet. πŸ‘‡

And follow me @brechtcastel for upcoming investigations! 34/END

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More from @brechtcastel

May 4, 2023
You come across a video in a language you don't understand. Annoying. 😠

Wouldn't it be great if you could watch that video with English subtitles? 😍

You can! With a little help from AI!
#OSINT #tutorial πŸ‘‡1/...

(got the idea from @matt0177 πŸ™) Image
@matt0177 First thing you have to do is install Whisper (this is software from #OpenAI, same guys from #ChatGPT).

It's FREE, but not so easy to install. I used this tutorial:

All info on Whisper here: github.com/openai/whisper 2/...
@matt0177 If you installed Whisper correctly, you download the video on your PC and go to the folder where the video is.

Now you type "cmd", to open command-line-interface. 3/... Image
Read 11 tweets
Jan 30, 2023
3.3M views for this video by @EuromaidanPress:

"American πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ infantry fighting vehicles M2 Bradley are spotted in Poland πŸ‡΅πŸ‡± [...] toward the Ukrainian border πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦. "

TRUE βœ… or FALSE ❌? Investigate! πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡ 1/...

#OSINT πŸ”Ž
#Verification πŸŽ₯
#GeoLocation 🌍
#HowToOSINT 🧐
@EuromaidanPress The exact location of the video is difficult to find due to the limited visual elements in the background. 😒

But it's admittedly plausible that the video was shot in Poland. How do we know this? πŸ‘‡2/...
@EuromaidanPress On the locomotive we read PKP Cargo 🟨, which is the largest rail freight carrier in Poland πŸ‡΅πŸ‡±.

We find a picture of a PKP-locomotive with the same serial number ST44-1232 πŸŸ₯.

The road sign in the video 🟩 corresponds to the Polish W9 sign for train signals. 3/...
Read 18 tweets
Nov 24, 2022
"Ukrainians πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ in the World Cup of Qatar πŸ‡ΆπŸ‡¦ arrested for spreading Nazi symbols."

This "report from Al Jazeera" gets 391K views on Telegram. 😲

Fake or real? Let's investigate!πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡1/...

#OSINTπŸ”Ž
#Verification πŸ“½οΈ
#GeoLocation 🌍
#HowToOSINT 🧐
#WorldcupQatar2022 ⚽️ Image
"Three drunken Ukrainian supporters were arrested in Qatar. The reason? They made a Nazi salute and vandalised posters at the Al Bayt stadium by drawing a Hitler moustache on the World Cup mascot La'eeb. When arrested, they showed no resistance."

Source: @AlJazeera Really? πŸ€”2/ Image
@AlJazeera The video features Al Jazeera's official logo πŸ‘†, has high quality and looks professionally made.

Any video on aljazeera.com (right) has an almost identical layout to the video circulating on social media (left). 3/... Image
Read 22 tweets
Oct 18, 2022
"Happy Birthday for Vladimir Putin from Belgium πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺ" from men in army uniform with guns. πŸ€”

Let's investigate this deleted TikTok-video. πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡1/...

#OSINTπŸ”Ž
#Verification πŸ“½οΈ
#GeoLocation 🌍
#HowToOSINT 🧐
This is the video. πŸ“½οΈπŸ‘€ 2/...

Is this a real video shot in Belgium❓

The video was previously uploaded on the social networking site TikTok on the account '@batyab.e.a.r', we can tell by the caption with the TikTok logo 🟨. 3/...
Read 23 tweets
Sep 21, 2022
11.8M views for a TikTok of "a mosquito 🦟 with a number on its back". 😲

Is Bill Gates involved? (Spoiler: no.) Investigate! πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡1/...

#OSINTπŸ”Ž
#Verification πŸŽ₯
#HowToOSINT 🧐

#BillGates #TikTok #FactCheck #Weird
The Russian caption (albeit with typo) on this viral video reads: 'Guys who know where the numbers on mosquitoes come from (?)'.

Good question! Let's start with some basic Google... 2/...
tiktok.com/@dyunh519yip1/…
To find out the origin of the images, we google part of the Russian inscription.

So we come to an article on the Kazakh news site Ekspress.

That article features the same video and situates it in Kazakhstan. πŸ‡°πŸ‡Ώ3/...
Read 19 tweets
Sep 9, 2022
On Facebook and Twitter hundreds of thousands saw a video of "Queen Elizabeth feeding vulnerable kids...😭😭😭"

Is this #QueenElizabeth "feeding humans as if they are animals"?

Let's find out! πŸ‘‡πŸ§΅1/...

#OSINTπŸ”Ž
#Verification πŸ“½οΈ
#HowToOSINT 🧐
We take a screenshot of the video and load it into the Russian search engine Yandex. #ReverseImageSearch

This brings us to a site with film recommendations. πŸŸ₯2/...
The French title of that page πŸ‘‡ reads 'Annamite children collect sapΓ¨ques for the pagoda of the ladies'.

SapΓ¨que is an ancient Chinese coinage. πŸͺ™

Annamite refers to a mountain range ⛰️ on the border of Vietnam πŸ‡»πŸ‡³ and the neighbouring countries of Laos πŸ‡±πŸ‡¦ and Cambodia πŸ‡°πŸ‡­. 3/
Read 13 tweets

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