Deepfake AI, TikTok post slam Abbott in misleading video

The anti-Abbott TikTok post, now gone viral with more than 7 million views, isn’t true, but you wouldn’t know it by watching it.

This week, the uploaded fake video appeared to show Texas Gov. Greg Abbott mouthing the words:

“I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods. They didn’t have authorization, I’ve confirmed it.”

Meaning, authorization to cross into the U.S.

The real story is, dozens of Mexican rescue workers did make it to Kerr County to help with the body recovery, where they were treated well, with respect, and Abbott thanked them, according to at least one online source.

The viral TikTok video, though, paints the governor as some anti- Mexican deranged bigot. It was based off a legit news conference Abbott held July 8 to discuss the Guadalupe River horror.

Deepfake AI

These days, with so much real fake news floating across the internet, it’s getting harder to tell what’s real.

Which is why Snopes.com is the real deal.

Created in 1994, before the advent of social media and smart phones, Snopes.com worked to debunk urban legends and misinformation. Now it’s busy debunking fake digital content as well.

If a story looks fishy, Snopes is the place to fact check it.

In the doctored Abbott video, Snopes says it was most likely created using some sort of deepfake AI, which is just a form of advanced AI meant to serve a primary goal. In this case, making Abbott look like a throwback to Alabama Gov. George Wallace who fought hard against school integration in the summer of 1963.

Until, that is, JFK federalized the Alabama National Guard and sent the troops to the University of Alabama where the governor stood in the doorway of a college auditorium, intent on stopping two black students from enrolling.

JFK won the fight.

Deepfake AI can synthesize realistic content that convincingly portrays a person saying or doing something they never did.

Besides fake words escaping the governor’s lips, there is a female narrator who sounds like a professional reporter describing the governor’s speech:

“While dozens of families were calling for help from their rooftops, these volunteers crossed the border with train dogs, ropes, and first aid kits. They carried no weapons or drugs. They came to help but were treated like criminals. Immigration agents aimed their guns at them, yelled that they had no authorization to be there, threw them to the ground and loaded them into a van, as if they were criminals. It was all caught on video. And the worst part? Just a few feet away a family was still trapped inside their home. No one came to rescue them because the only people helping were already in handcuffs.”

While the narrator is disseminating lies, there are photos showing people being handcuffed, intermixed with photos of some of the real Mexican rescue workers looking exhausted, just like all the other volunteers walking the river, looking for bodies.

The whole thing looks as real as a legit news story on the local TV station.

But wait, the narrator isn’t through, which may help explain the seven million views:

“The most outrageous part (the Mexican volunteers arrested, handcuffed) was the reaction of the Texas governor. Instead of condemning what happened, he supported it. He said anyone who crosses the border without permission, even to save lives, must be detained. You heard that right. Saving lives is now illegal. One of the rescuers managed to say before being taken away, ‘We didn’t come to invade, we came to help.’"

Then the video switches to a person getting arrested, but it’s not the Mexican volunteers. The narrator continues:

“This scene shows more than just an arrest. It marks the line that’s been crossed (which shows), that even those who come to save lives can now be treated as enemies. Comment ‘shame’ if you believe this crossed every line. And share this video before it gets deleted or buried under water in silence.”

Besides the seven million who watched the deepfake AI video, there were 835,000 reactions and 183,700 shares. (Source: Snopes.com.) No doubt they all believe what they saw. The video is that good.

According to Snopes, though, none of this is true.

Indeed, if the governor had said such a thing, as Snopes points out, it would be all over legit news, which it isn’t.

For any story that sounds fishy, one can either do an online search for other similar stories, or go to Snopes.com and type in the story in the search field.

“Governor Abbott and Mexican volunteers” will show how the deepfake AI story was created and fact checked.