Fact Check: Asaduddin Owaisi performs aarti to Hanuman idol? No, video is AI-generated

Hyderabad: A video showing All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Member of Parliament from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi, performing aarti in a temple is going viral on social media.

The 16-second-long video shows Asaduddin Owaisi performing aarti to a Hanuman idol. There is a Hindu priest in saffron robes beside him, and they are surrounded by a large crowd who have their hands folded in prayer.

The camera goes up from Owaisi’s left side, gets blocked by an arch momentarily, before showing Owaisi and the crowd again. But this time, the camera is facing Owaisi. From there, the camera goes back to its original position by coming down.

Sharing the video on Threads, a user wrote, “There is nothing wrong, their ancestors were Hindus, they are returning to Sanatan, Jai Shri Ram #bihar #mahnar #jayshreeram #jaymataji” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)

A post sharing the same claim can be seen here. (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video is generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Source of the video

Keyword searches for the incident did not yield any news reports or credible social media posts stating that the Hyderabad MP performed aarti at a Hanuman temple.

Discrepancies in the video

Upon closely analysing the video, we found that a person seems to be missing between the two shots in the video, even though they are likely to have been ‘recorded’ at the same time.

Another discrepancy is the appearance of a doorway behind the arch behind Owaisi. In the same area, a board with text on it, which was present when the camera was beside Owaisi, disappears when the camera goes up.

These are typical indications that the video has been created using AI.

A crucial giveaway is the Gemini logo on the bottom left of the video. Google’s Gemini can be used to generate videos using Artificial Intelligence.

Analysis of the video

To check whether the video is AI-generated, we used Synth ID by Google DeepMind. This tool detects the imperceptible watermark embedded in all AI-generated content built using Google AI models. This also helps verify the origin of the video.

Synth ID determined that the entire 16-second video has been generated using a Google AI model.

Therefore, it is clear that the video showing AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi performing aarti to a Hanuman idol is AI-generated. NewsMeter concludes that the viral claim is false.