Left-leaning social media users amplified an AI-generated audio clip purporting to show President Donald Trump yelling at U.S. officials to block the release of documents about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, researchers said Friday.
A renewed national uproar over the so-called Epstein file has engulfed US politics in recent weeks, spurring a showdown between Mr Trump and a lawmaker who is a former friend of the late convicted sex offender.
A Trump-like synthesized voice said, “We will not release the Epstein files,” in a widely shared clip in which a social media post falsely claimed the president was criticizing his Cabinet members.
“If I fall, I’ll take you all with me.”
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The clip was amplified by posts on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, many of which garnered millions of views and thousands of comments.
Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard said the audio was “an AI-generated fake.”
NewsGuard said the clip, which appears to have been first posted by a liberal TikTok user, is from a video showing symptoms generated by Sora, OpenAI’s text-to-video model.
The clip was then shared with several other videos without Sola’s watermark, “obscuring the origins of the AI,” the watchdog group said.
Liberal social media users also incorrectly quoted White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt as saying that Epstein’s recently released emails did not mention the president.
Also read: Trump signs Epstein files release bill: When will the Justice Department release the documents? |Hindustan Times
“It’s not President Trump in Epstein’s emails. It’s someone else with the same name,” read a post by X that credited Levitt with the statement, which has been viewed more than 4 million times.
This false claim also gained attention on Instagram.
In response to a post by X claiming that Leavitt made the remarks, the White House account on the platform said: “No…she didn’t do that. You’re a weapon-grade idiot.”
The left’s distortion of reality highlights how misinformation permeates both sides of the political aisle in a hyperpolarized country. Falsehoods create information chaos on increasingly unchecked social media sites, making it difficult for ordinary users to decipher fact from fiction.
President Trump insists he has “nothing to do” with his former close friend Epstein.
The Republican president signed a bill Wednesday that requires his administration to release government documents related to Epstein.
President Trump had resisted releasing the files for months, but this week he reversed course and surprised the US government by securing passage of the bill.
Insiders have warned that even with the president’s signature, the administration could resort to redactions, procedural delays and protracted federal investigations to keep explosive details from the public’s eyes.
A wealthy financier, Mr. Epstein operated in elite circles for years, developing close ties to businessmen, politicians, academics and celebrities accused of trafficking girls and young women for sex.
Mr. Epstein’s arrest in 2019 on human trafficking charges fueled a storm of anger and pressure to fully unravel his network and finances.
