Deepfake Shared to Falsely Claim Shashi Tharoor Praised Pakistan’s Diplomacy - The Quint

On June 29, 2026, a video began circulating on social media appearing to show Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor criticizing Indian leadership while praising Pakistan’s diplomacy. The manipulated clip suggested that the value of Indian lives had diminished under Prime Minister Modi, a statement that was quickly identified as fabricated content.

What happened

The deceptive clip was created by altering an original video of Shashi Tharoor speaking at an event hosted by the India Thai Chamber of Commerce, originally published on June 5. In the authentic footage, Tharoor discussed India-Thailand relations, cultural diplomacy, the role of the Indian diaspora, and tourism infrastructure. He also addressed safety regulations for travelers and the need for gender-sensitive schooling.

Fact-checkers identified the original source by performing a reverse image search, which linked the footage to a Livemint YouTube short and the India Thai Chamber of Commerce’s official channel. Once the original event was identified, investigators confirmed that Tharoor had never made the pro-Pakistan claims attributed to him in the viral video.

To verify the manipulation, the investigators employed technical analysis tools to assess the audio track. The Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector assigned the audio an authenticity score of just three out of 100, indicating a high probability of voice synthesis. Furthermore, the Hive Moderation AI-generated content detector flagged the audio track with a 99.3 percent likelihood of being AI-generated speech. The incident underscores the use of sophisticated synthesis tools to misrepresent political figures by altering their public statements.