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Claim: A TikTok user via a video claimed that Donald Trump has restricted immigration from Nigerians to the US.
Verdict: Misleading! DUBAWA’s findings reveal that the footage of the US president-elect purportedly declaring visa restrictions on Nigerians has been digitally altered. Besides, Mr Trump will not be sworn in as executive president until Jan. 20, 2025. And until then, he cannot make any policy.
Full Text
The United States (US) held its presidential election on Nov. 4, 2024, witnessing a tight race between former president Donald Trump and Vice-president Kamala Harris. However, Mr Trump emerged victorious after he secured 312 electoral votes and surpassed the majority threshold of 270, while Kamala Harris garnered 226 electoral votes, leaving Trump with an 86-vote margin ahead of her.
In the aftermath of the widely reported election, a TikTok user, Queen of All, shared a video alleging that Mr Trump has announced new visa restrictions targeting Nigerian professionals seeking to enter the US.
The 90-second video shows Mr Trump announcing a visa ban on Nigerian professionals, urging them to remain in their country and invest.
“I’m announcing a temporary policy shift, one that aims to encourage Nigerians, especially those in critical professions, to stay, invest, and work in their homeland. As part of this policy, the US will limit certain visa approvals for Nigerian professionals, including doctors, nurses, engineers, and others in essential fields,” he said.
He added, “This is not a move taken lightly, nor is it meant to determine cultural exchange or partnership between our nations. Instead, this is a call to action for Nigerians to dedicate their skills to the advancement of Nigeria itself.”
The data on the TikTok video shows that as of Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, the video generated over 26,000 likes, 3,000 comments, and 28,000 reposts.
Meanwhile, in the comment section, some users believed the post’s veracity, while others suggested the video was generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
We saw similar videos on X (here, here, here, and here).
DUBAWA researched the TikTok video to verify whether the US president-elect made the alleged statements.
Verification
DUBAWA noticed irregularities between Trump’s lip movement and speech utterances, which lack synchronisation. This is usually an obvious flaw committed when a video’s properties have been tampered with. We also subjected some of the video’s keyframes to Google Reverse Image Search. The result led us to Mr Trump’s 2024 victory speech, which bears semblance to the version presented by the claimant.
The lower part of the TikTok video was covered with photographs of President Bola Tinubu and President-elect Trump to make users believe the video’s veracity. That detail is not in the original version of the video.
DUBAWA also noticed an image that resembles a person’s hand in the background as Mr Trump gave his victory speech in both video versions. Meanwhile, the former president’s clothing accessories and the stage background are similar in both video versions. All of those suggest that one of the copies is a replica of the other, with obvious digital alterations.
Noticing the irregularities in speech synchronisation, we conducted a video analysis using Deepwater, a deepfake detection tool. The result showed no evidence of deepfake features.
Doubting this result from deepware, DUBAWA opted for another AI audio detector, hive moderation, which showed a 99% likelihood of deepfake in the audio content.
Moreover, Mr Trump’s victory speech at the gala did not mention any US visa restrictions imposed on Nigerians.
Furthermore, we checked Mr Trump’s X handle for details about the purported claim but found no post about the alleged development.
It is worthy of note that although the former president has been declared the winner, he has yet to be sworn in as president of the North American country—a political rite that qualifies him to make policies as president. According to news reports, his inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 20, 2025.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s findings reveal that the claimant’s video suggesting Mr Trump has imposed visa restrictions on Nigerians has been digitally manipulated.
