By Hazel Gandhi
A digitally altered video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing a partnership between the Indian government, and a cryptocurrency trading platform named Quantum Trade, is being circulated on Facebook.
BOOM found that the video is a deepfake and was created using voice cloning technology. Furthermore, there is no credible evidence of Sitharaman making any announcements about such a partnership.
The 1-minute long clip shows Sitharaman announcing a collaboration between the Indian government and a trading platform called Quantum Trade. The video purports to show Sitharaman speaking about the benefits of the platform and how it will especially help people from economically weaker sections become wealthy.
Her full statement is, "As we navigate the currents of economic evolution, it is with great pleasure that I announce a groundbreaking partnership between the government of India and Quantum Trader, an innovative platform foestering financial empowerment, in our commitment to uplift every citizen, especially those facing economic challenges. This alliance seeks to provide an avenue for wealth creation. The Quantum Trader, with its advanced automated trading capababilities, opens doors for individuals to participate in the markets, a prospect previously deemed exclusive. Our collaboration aims to democratise wealth, empowering those who strive to make ends meet. The government acknowledges the potential of Quantum Trader in shaping the prosperous future of our citizens. This partnership signifies our strife towards financial inclusion. Together we envision a landscape where Quantum Trader contributes significantly to the economic well-being of our nation."
The video is being shared on Facebook with the caption, "Big Announcement! QuantumTrade proudly announces a strategic alliance, creating opportunities for all. Explore the benefits of our new partnership – join today! 🚀"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video was digitally altered and Sitharaman made no such announcements of a partnership between the Indian government and Quantum Trade. In the original video, Sitharaman is seen addressing a press conference regarding the government's relief efforts for the floods in Tamil Nadu.
We ran a reverse image search of some key frames from the viral video on Google and found an Instagram post shared by Sitharaman's verified account on December 22, 2023. The photo bore a close resemblance to the viral video and the caption read, "Addressed the media in New Delhi on the efforts of the Central Government on Tamil Nadu flood relief."
Taking a clue from this, we looked for the full video of the press conference on YouTube and found a 56-minute-long livestream shared by PIB India's official channel on December 22. The video was titled 'Press Conference by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Govt. Efforts for Tamil Nadu flood relief'. Sitharaman was heard speaking in Tamil for the majority part, unlike the viral video that showed her speaking in English, which led us to believe that the viral video might be digitally altered.
Below is a comparison between the viral video and the original video shared by PIB India.
Further, we also looked for any news reports about Sitharaman's purported announcement and did not find any results.
We also clicked on the link attached in the viral post and found that it led to a fake interview of Elon Musk with Fox News and CBS where he is seen endorsing the same platform.
A quick search on Google confirmed that Musk did not give any such interview about the benefits of Quantum Trade or Quantum AI, nor has he publicly endorsed the platform.
BOOM has previously debunked several other deepfake videos of celebrities like Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Alia Bhatt, and Katrina Kaif that falsely claimed to show them endorsing a financial scheme or investment opportunity. Read here and here.
