Fact Check: This Video Claiming To Show Mukesh Ambani Is A Deepfake
Vishvas News found in its investigation that the viral claim about Mukesh Ambani endorsing a scheme by a woman named Sona is false. The viral video is an edited clip, and could be termed a deepfake. The cover photo of the post has been edited, too, with false claims and images inserted. A spokesperson of Reliance Industries also confirmed that the viral post is false. The viral video has footage from another video, with misleading audio overlaid.
- By Vishvas News
- Updated: September 11, 2023
New Delhi (Vishvas News): A video purportedly showing Mukesh Ambani, the chairperson of Reliance Industries, has been circulating widely on social media, in which he can purportedly be heard endorsing an investment scheme by a woman named Sona Aggarwal. The cover photo of this post shows Mukesh Ambani standing alongside a woman.
Vishvas News investigated the post and found this claim to be false. The viral video is a deepfake created using editing and AI technology, and the cover photo is also edited.
इस फैक्ट चेक को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिए यहां क्लिक करें
What’s Viral?
A Facebook user named ‘Sona Super’ (archive) shared the viral post with the text, “An important statement from India’s richest man.” In the video, what appears to be Mukesh Ambani can be heard speaking in English, making an announcement regarding a new investment project for Indian residents. The voice, claimed to be his, says he is giving personal support for the project and that he appointed Sona Agarwal as this project’s head, asking viewers to visit Sona’s Telegram channel and mention their connection with Mukesh Ambani to earn money.
Investigation:
To investigate this post, we first searched the cover photo used in the post with Google reverse image search. We found the original photo on Getty Images, in which the woman standing with Mukesh Ambani is actually his wife Nita Ambani. The caption accompanying the original photo reads: “India’s richest man and oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani (R) along with his wife Nita Ambani (C) and their son Anant Ambani arrive for the company’s 41st AGM in Mumbai on July 5, 2018. – India’s oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries, recorded a standalone net profit of 86.97 billion rupees for the quarter that ended March 31 from 81.51 billion rupees a year earlier, for its oil, refining, and petrochemicals businesses. (Photo by Indranil MUKHERJEE / AFP) (Photo credit should read INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)”
The difference between the real and fake image, in which another woman is shown in place of Nita Ambani, can be seen in the collage below. This shows the original photo was edited to insert this other woman’s image.
Now we investigated the video itself. The video showed poor lip sync, and the accent also did not match Mukesh Ambani’s. This indicated that the video is a deepfake, likely created using editing or AI tools.
We spoke to Garima Pradhan, a video editor with Dainik Jagran, for insights on this clip. She said “the video’s lip sync is misplaced which hints that the video is edited. Nowadays, a plethora of AI tools are available, which can facilitate the creation of such videos very easily. At times, it becomes very difficult to differentiate between authentic and manipulated content. It is always advisable to conduct cross-referencing across various platforms before believing or sharing such videos.”
In order to find the source of this video or the original video itself, we then searched the screenshots of the viral clip on Google Reverse Image. We found this video uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Reliance Jio on July 21, 2017. Nowhere in the entire video did Mukesh Ambani endorse any investment scheme. The video was titled “Reliance AGM 2017 – Jio Feature Phones Unveiled by Mr. Mukesh Ambani | Reliance Jio.”
We contacted Reliance Industries’ public relations officer, Franco Williams, who confirmed that the viral post was fake.
We spoke to cybersecurity expert Anuj Aggarwal about the link in the viral post. He emphasised that clicking on any unverified link poses a risk of data theft and strongly advises against clicking on such URLs.
A reverse image search of the profile picture on this link further led us to the Instagram page of a fashion designer named Prevasu Couture. According to the information on this post, the woman in the picture is content creator Sukhneet Wadhwa.
We also checked Sukhneet Wadhwa’s Instagram page and found the same picture. However, we found no information indicating her association with any investment scheme.
We have reached out to Sukhneet Wadhwa via email for further clarification. This story will be updated as and when we receive a reply from her.
The user ‘Sona Super’, who shared the viral picture with false claims, has approximately 500 followers on Facebook.
Conclusion: Vishvas News found in its investigation that the viral claim about Mukesh Ambani endorsing a scheme by a woman named Sona is false. The viral video is an edited clip, and could be termed a deepfake. The cover photo of the post has been edited, too, with false claims and images inserted. A spokesperson of Reliance Industries also confirmed that the viral post is false. The viral video has footage from another video, with misleading audio overlaid.