Fact Check
FACT CHECK: Did Putin ever refer to Africa as a cemetery as claimed in a Tik Tok Video
CLAIM: A widely viewed TikTok video shows the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin purportedly talking about Africa and denigrating the continent. In the video, he purportedly referred to Africa as “a cemetery for Africans”
VERDICT: False!
FULL TEXT
In the video, Putin was seen seated in what appears like a conference room and talking into a microphone.
He purportedly said the following in the video, “Africa is a cemetery for Africans. When an African becomes rich, his bank accounts are in Switzerland. He travels to France for medical treatment. He buys from Dubai. He consumes Chinese. He prays in Rome or Mecca. His children study in Europe. He travels to Canada, the USA or Europe for Tourism. When he dies, he will be buried in his native country. Africa is a cemetery for Africans; how then can a Cemetery be developed.”
The video has over 200,000 likes and about 10,000 comments, with some stating that Putin made the statement. The video is also being circulated on Whatsapp.
VERIFICATION
Even though the video seems apparently doctored judging from the movement of Putin’s lips, Ripples Nigeria scanned the video on Deepware, a software that detects deep fake or AI manipulation in videos. The result returned with 93% deep fake detected.
Also, media searches did not show any evidence of Putin ever making such a statement.
In addition, apart from the fact that Putin very rarely speaks English in public, the voice in the video is not Putin’s, and the Russian President is not as fluent in English as the voice in the video.
By Oluwatobi Odeyinka
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