Fact Check: Video of cricketer Viral Kohli promoting an online casino app is a deepfake

Hyderabad: After Sachin Tendulkar and Nirmala Sitharaman – among the many examples – a video of star cricketer Virat Kohli endorsing an online casino app is being widely circulated on social media.

The viral video shows Kohli advertising his newly launched casino app’ on the media channel Bharat 24. In the video, Kohli promises huge cash prices on his app. The video also advertised a link in the Facebook post which redirected to Google Play Store where one can download the casino gaming app called 101F.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false as the video does not show Virat Kohli but his deepfake.

On closely analysing the viral video, we found certain discrepancies in the video such as lack of clarity and errors in syncing of video and audio. Also, if Virat Kohli had advertised or endorsed any such app it would have been covered by mainstream media for sure.

We started our investigation by performing a keyword search to check for media reports regarding Virat Kohli launching an online casino app but could not find any.

We found the original and extended version of the video on a YouTube channel of Graham Bensinger dated December 22, 2023.

The original video is about Graham Bensinger, an American journalist and entrepreneur, interviewing Kohli about his life and cricket. Kohli speaks about his past including his father’s death, the effect it had on his mental health, and his relationship with Bollywood star Anushka Sharma – from their awkward first meeting to their secret wedding ceremony.

The portion of the video, from which the edited version was made, comes after 40 seconds as evident from the same hand gestures Viral Kohli makes in both videos. In that section, he only talks about his childhood memories of watching cricket and doesn’t mention any casino gaming app there or anywhere else in the video.

Hence, we conclude that the video of Virat Kohli promoting betting is a deepfake.

Deluge of deepfakes

The persons who made the deepfakes of Kohli and the news anchor created digital versions of their voices to convincingly make it sound like they were promoting the casino app. To learn more about the deepfakes, click here. Click here to explore the coverage done by NewsMeter so far debunking deepfakes, especially of prominent personalities from India.

Meta’s new helpline and fact-checking service

Recently, Meta has launched a new helpline and fact-checking service in India aimed to prevent the spread of AI-generated deepfake content. Meta has partnered with India’s Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) to operate the helpline. The helpline provides multilingual support across the Indian population.