Fact Check: Video of BBC news anchor Vidit Mehra 'endorsing' casino gaming app is a deepfake

Hyderabad: A video of BBC Hindi news anchor Vidit Mehra supposedly endorsing a casino gaming app is in circulation on social media.

In the video, the alleged BBC graphic text overlayed at the bottom reads, “300,000,000 INR is the jackpot won by a Mumbai native using a mobile app. (translated from Hindi)”

Mehra can be heard repeating the text in the caption and adds that a person named Mayakala will explain how money can be earned on the gaming application. Following this, a female voice-over narrates the story of a person named Vinod Shinde who bought a sports car and a two-storey house from his winnings on the app.

A Facebook page shared the video without a caption. The post carried a link, which directed to a game called ‘Diamond Painting ASMR Coloring’.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video is a deepfake of Vidit Mehra generated using voice cloning AI (Artificial Intelligence) software.

The graphic in the video carried the logo of BBC Hindi. So, we started our investigation by performing keyword searches but did not find BBC Hindi promoting the game mentioned in the video on its website and social media handles (X handle, Instagram and Facebook account).

We also checked Mehra’s X handle and Instagram account but did not find any video of him endorsing the game.

To find the original video used to make the viral clip, we scrolled through the YouTube channel of BBC News Hindi and came across a 16:59-minute video report of Mehra published on January 3, 3024.

The viral clip appears in this video at around 5:41 minutes. Mehra is wearing the same suit and the background is the same as in the viral video. However, he could be heard reporting on casualties in Ukraine since the start of the war with Russia and not on any gaming app.

Here is a comparison of screengrabs from the altered and original videos.

Earlier, NewsMeter debunked an identical deepfake of news anchor Amish Devgan reporting on a casino gaming app. Hence, we conclude that the video of Vidit Mehra endorsing a gaming app is a deepfake.