- On TikTok, a campaign impersonating Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, has garnered hundreds of millions of views, adding to the internet chaos in the already-conflicted nation that has been ripped apart by civil war. Since late August, an unidentified user has been uploading what it claims to be “leaked recordings” of the former president. Numerous videos from the channel have been released, however the voice is not real. Bashir, who was overthrown by the military in 2019 and has been accused of orchestrating war crimes, hasn’t been spotted in public for a year and is said to be gravely ill. The charges of war crimes are denied by him.
- Campaigns like these are important because they demonstrate how easily and fast fraudulent news can be shared on social media using new methods, according to experts. I’m most concerned about the democratization of access to sophisticated audio and video manipulation equipment because it makes it simple for the average individual with little to no technical knowledge to produce phony information.
- The recordings are available on a channel named The Voice of Sudan, which appears to be a combination of old press conference videos from failed coups, news headlines, and a number of “leaked recordings” allegedly belonging to Bashir. The articles frequently claim to be transcripts of conferences or phone calls, and the audio is grainy as you might expect from a weak phone connection.
- We initially sought the advice of a group of Sudan specialists at BBC Monitoring to confirm their veracity. Ibrahim Haithar assured us that they were unlikely to have been recently recorded: “The voice sounds like Bashir but he has been very ill for the past few years and doubt he would be able to speak so clearly.” This does not, however, prove that it is not him.
- The most convincing proof was provided by a user of X, which was formerly known as Twitter. In August 2023, the first Bashir recording was uploaded, and they immediately recognized it. It appears to show the leader criticizing General Abdel Fattah Burhan, who is in charge of the Sudanese army. The Bashir tape matched a Facebook Live interview that Al Insirafi, a well-known Sudanese political pundit, had given two days earlier.
- The Voice of Sudan claims they are not connected to any organizations and denies deceiving the people. The response we got when we texted the account read: “I want to communicate my voice and explain the reality that my country is going through in my style.”
- Artificial intelligence (AI) scientists have long been concerned that phony film and audio may result in a flood of disinformation that might cause unrest and interfere with elections. Alarmingly, these recordings may also foster a climate in which many people doubt even authentic recordings.
Source:
BBC.com
