Claim: Veteran journalist Jessica Soho reported about a cure for hypertension allegedly developed by medical content creator Dr. Alvin Francisco, also known as Doc Alvin on social media.
Why we fact-checked this: The Facebook ad containing the claim has accumulated 2,200 reactions, 161 comments, and 345,000 views as of writing.
The video shows Soho and Francisco purportedly discussing a newly-developed hypertension cure.
AI-manipulated: The video containing the claim is AI-manipulated. Web-based AI-detection tool Sensity found the video “suspicious” with a 99% confidence level.
Sensity noted that a high confidence level means that the content has “definite signals of AI generation or manipulation.” The Netherlands-based company also said that the minimum confidence level for its detector is 50%.
According to Sensity’s analysis, faceswap technology is used in the video, making it seem like Soho reported on the product.
Old, unrelated report: The ad used AI to manipulate a clip from the GMA News and Public Affairs election special The Jessica Soho Presidential Interviews published on YouTube on January 22, 2022.
The ad spliced a clip from the original video, starting from the 1:38 to 1:50 timestamp of Soho’s introduction in the show.
In the original clip, Soho introduced the four then-presidential aspirants who accepted the invitation for an interview. The veteran journalist did not mention anything about hypertension or a cure for it in the show.
False report: Francisco’s name and image have repeatedly been used in several ads, falsely claiming that he had developed or invented a cure for an illness. In an October 2023 post on his official and verified Facebook page, the medical content creator debunked a similar claim regarding an arthritis cure, which he said was “fake news.”
Similar claims: Both Soho and Francisco were previously targeted in AI-manipulated ads that Rappler had fact-checked:
– Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com
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