Burkina leader's 'anti-West speech' is AI generated
"Best speech of the 21st century. If Captain Traore wins this time, not only Burkina Faso, but the whole of Africa will win," says a Bengali-language Facebook post on May 28, 2025.
The accompanying video, which has racked up more than 1.9 million views, purportedly shows Traore attacking Western propaganda, exposing media lies and declaring a new era for Africa.
"The Africa you showed us wasn't real. The story you told us was a lie. The fate you imposed on us was a script you had written for years," he says in English, apparently referring to multiple news organisations.
"You're not free press, you're corporate press, your bosses are billionaires."
Since Traore swept into power, Burkina Faso has turned away from former colonial master France and moved closer to Russia (archived link).
A steady stream of viral social media posts -- many misleading or outright false -- has portrayed him as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country's dignity.
The AI footage also surfaced in posts from South Africa and Kenya.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes found it earlier posted on YouTube on May 25, 2025 with a note that it was "entirely fictional" (archived link).
The platform has marked the clip as "altered or synthetic content" while the channel has previously uploaded AI clips of Traore (archived link).
An analysis of the circulating footage spotted visual errors that are hallmarks of AI. The fingernails on Traore's hands disappear at the 6:30 mark and his hand blurs at the 11:55 mark.
Despite the meteoric rise in generative AI, errors persist and checking them is one way to tell the content is not genuine.
AFP has debunked more misinformation around Traore here and here.
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