Posts from multiple users on different social media platforms since Sunday shared a video of an interviewer, claiming that it allegedly showed her confronting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and highlighting the contradiction between seeking financial aid while indulging in extravagant government-funded trips. However, the video was dubbed over with AI-generated audio.

PM Shehbaz embarked on a four-day visit to Saudi Arabia on March 19. Besides performing Umrah, he also met businessmen and the Saudi crown prince during his stay. He was accompanied by federal ministers, senior officials and his niece, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

On Sunday, retired army officer and dissident vlogger Adil Raja shared a clip of an interviewer allegedly showing her confronting PM Shehbaz on his lavish expenses.

The video was overlaid with bold text and presented in a breaking news format. The interviewer allegedly questioned PM Shehbaz on Pakistan asking for funds from Saudi Arabia while at the same time bringing a delegation of 30 people for Umrah at the government’s expense.

The post offered no details about the alleged interview, such as its date, context or the outlet it was aired on.

The post was captioned: “So, does the beggar Pakistani government, under the leadership of Asim Munir, General Rani, and [Shehbaz Sharif], really believe that they can take their families for Umrah at public expense while also begging for more loans from Saudi Arabia? Especially considering that Saudi Arabia is cracking down on Pakistani beggar groups who harass Umrah pilgrims?”

The post gained 81,100 views.

The watermark of a TikTok account was visible in the video, leading to the original share on the social media platform, where it racked up 589,000 views.

The same video was shared by another user, who appeared to be a PTI supporter based on his past posts, on X and gained 60,900 views.

The video was shared by other users on X as can be seen here and on TikTok here.

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen interest in the foreign trips of government officials which often attract criticism for their expenditure amid the country’s financial woes.

The video was analysed using multiple AI-detection tools, however, the results were inconclusive due to inconsistencies across different software and their continued lack of reliability.

The website tool Attestiv.ai assigned a 93 per cent suspicion rating to the video, ChatGpt’s Deepfake Detective determined manipulation with 95pc certainty while Deepware found no evidence of tampering.

A visual analysis of the video revealed multiple discrepancies in lip-syncing, where the interviewer’s voice did not align with her actual mouth movements. At several points, her lips appeared to be forming different words than what was heard in the audio, suggesting potential editing or manipulation.

Additionally, in the final few seconds of the clip, PM Shehbaz was allegedly shown responding to the anchor’s question. However, upon closer inspection, his lip movements did not correspond accurately to his spoken words.

The above suggests that the video was dubbed over through AI-generated audio.

A keyword search on YouTube yielded the original interview of PM Shehbaz with the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news outlet, telecast by PTV News and dated January 17, 2023.

The over 18-minute-long interview featured the premier discussing several topics, including diplomatic relations with the UAE, tensions between Pakistan and India, as well as the economic conditions of the country.

Nowhere in the interview did the interviewer confront the prime minister about a delegation of 30 people performing Umrah at the government’s expense.

Furthermore, a keyword search did not yield any news stories that reported on the alleged exchange.

Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a video shows an Arab TV anchor confronting PM Shehbaz about the hypocrisy of asking for aid while funding a delegation of 30 people for Umrah at the state’s expense is false.

The viral clip was dubbed over with AI-generated audio and was from an interview in January 2023, which did not feature any such exchange as alleged.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ and UNDP.