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Claim: Several accounts on TikTok and Facebook shared a video suggesting that the Vice President of Ghana was on stage singing a Chinese song.
Verdict: The claim that Mahamudu Bawumia was singing a Chinese song is false. Our findings show the clip is a deepfake.
Full Text
In the democratic sphere, tarnishing individuals’ reputations through disinformation is a recurring issue, especially during elections. With Ghana’s Dec. 7, 2024, election fast approaching, the country’s information ecosystem is increasingly vulnerable to misleading narratives, often aimed at discrediting political parties or figures.
Mahamudu Bawumia (born on Oct. 7, 1963) is a Ghanaian politician and former central banker who serves as the 5th Vice President of Ghana in the 14th Ghanaian Republic. He assumed office on Jan. 7, 2017, as Vice President of Ghana and is the New Patriotic Party nominee for president in the 2024 general elections.
Recently, some social media accounts shared a video suggesting that he was singing a Chinese song in front of a crowd.
We first discovered the video on TikTok, shared by @onediamondug. The man identified as the Vice President of Ghana is heard saying, “There is this Chinese song that I like, it goes this way….” He then sings the song, followed by the artist’s original video.
The post gained traction with 497,000 likes, 17,061 comments, 39,400 bookmarks, and 27,300 shares.
In the comments, users like @Chocolateprince replied, “Do they even know the meaning of the song?” while @Ikraanfarxaan636 commented, “Even if we don’t know the meaning, we still love the song.”
@novasixcomedy added, “I’m sure he doesn’t know the artist; he just knows the song.”
@Ejacstommyalso said, “It’s even better than the original.”
Most people who commented believed Mahamudu Bawumia was the one in the footage.
The same post was traced to different Facebook posts with the same narrative. See links here, here, here, and here.
Given the virality of the post in the election season, DUBAWA decided to verify the claim’s authenticity.
Verification
DUBAWA examined the video and observed several elements that doubt its authenticity. For instance, the lip-sync appeared misaligned, and when compared to another video of Bawumia speaking, the voice sounded noticeably different.
Additionally, the audio quality seemed unusual, lacking the clarity typically found in other recordings.
To verify further, DUBAWA attempted to analyse the video with Deepware.ai to determine its originality. However, due to the file’s corrupt nature—often a result of repeated alterations—an accurate analysis was not possible.
DUBAWA went further to extract a screenshot from the video and used the forensic toolkit on InVid to detect signs of manipulation. An error analysis enhancer flagged the image as fabricated, confirming the suspicions about the video’s authenticity.
The original video was traced to a clip shared by Joy News on YouTube. The 38-second recording which was altered showed the Vice President in a humorous moment, gagging and laughing all through. All with no mention of a Chinese song. See the video here.
Conclusion
After using various tools to assess the video, DUBAWA concluded that the content in question is a deepfake. The original footage was altered, with new elements superimposed to create a fabricated narrative.
