Fact Check: Fake videos of Giorgia Meloni snubbing Netanyahu go viral

Earlier this month, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suspended a defence cooperation agreement with Israel “in consideration of the current situation”. Reportedly, this came amid rising tensions between Italy and Israel, after the latter fired warning shots at an Italian peacekeeping convoy in Lebanon on April 8.

Now, two AI-generated videos of Meloni allegedly showing her antagonism towards Israel have gone viral. Let’s talk about these videos one by one.

THE FIRST VIDEO

This video shows Meloni ignoring Benjamin Netanyahu’s handshake gesture during an event. Meloni can be seen wearing a scarf in the colours of the Palestinian flag. The text in the video reads, “Giorgia Meloni ignoring Netanyahu”. Its archive can be viewed here.

Upon careful observation, we noticed several signs that point towards the video being synthetic. The movements of both Meloni and Netanyahu appear to be robotic. Their postures also appear stiff.

We ran the video through Deepfake-o-Meter, a deepfake detection tool developed by the University at Buffalo. Four of its detectors identified the video as AI-generated.

THE SECOND VIDEO

Another video showing Meloni shouting angrily and throwing away a bunch of papers during a conference was also widely shared as her gesture while ending all agreements with Israel.

Meloni’s facial expressions in the video, especially towards the beginning, look unnatural. The people present in the hall appear robotic. Even after Meloni’s angry gesture, their body language looks calm and composed.

Three detectors of Deepfake-o-meter labelled the video as AI-generated.

Using reverse search, we found Meloni’s image from a 2023 AI safety summit, in which she is wearing the same attire seen in the viral video.

There are no reports of Italy ending all contracts with Israel, apart from the defence cooperation agreement.