Fact Check: Viral Video of Donald Trump Blaming RSS for Riots in Arunachal Pradesh is a Deepfake

Created By: Boom

Co-Published By: LokmatTimes.com

A recent video claiming to show US President Donald Trump accusing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of inciting riots in Arunachal Pradesh and fueling tensions among the ethnic Tani tribes has gone viral. However, BOOM has found that this video is a deepfake. Several discrepancies commonly associated with AI-manipulated content were identified, and AI detection tools have confirmed that the video is indeed a deepfake.

According to a report by The New Indian Express on March 6, 2025, thousands of Christians in Arunachal Pradesh are protesting against the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA), 1978. The act, which was introduced to protect the traditional religious practices of indigenous communities from external influence or coercion, was never implemented. While Christians in the state oppose the APFRA, believers of indigenous faith support it and recently staged protests demanding its enforcement. The three major communities in the state are indigenous faith believers, Christians, and Buddhists. The Tani people, a prominent tribe in Arunachal Pradesh, practice the worship of the Sun (Donyi) and the Moon (Polo).

The viral video, lasting 3 minutes and 20 seconds, shows Trump allegedly claiming that certain individuals within the Donyi Polo community are selling their identity and faith to the RSS for political gain, exacerbating conflict among Christian Tani people in relation to the APFRA. He further urges the community to identify those who have accepted money from the RSS to divide the Tani people and calls on the ‘true followers’ of the Donyi Polo faith who have not received RSS funding to unite and expel these influences from the state, accusing them of exploiting religion to incite political violence among the Tanis.

The video is being shared with a warning caption: "WARNING: ALARMING NEWS FOR NORTH EAST PEOPLE Listen to the speech of US President Donald Trump. #TIME BOMB TICKING FOR NORTH EAST INDIA."

To verify the authenticity of the video, BOOM conducted a keyword search and found no credible reports confirming that Trump had made any statements about the RSS or Arunachal Pradesh. A detailed examination of the video revealed multiple discrepancies, including mismatched lip movements and sudden jump cuts with no changes in voice modulation. Furthermore, segments of the video were cropped and analyzed using the AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which flagged the video as AI-manipulated.

In addition, BOOM divided the audio into four segments and tested them using Resemble AI, a tool designed to detect AI-generated audio. Resemble AI confirmed that all four audio segments were AI-generated, further validating that the video was a deepfake.

This story was originally published by Boom and republished by LokmatTimes.com  as part of the Shakti Collective.