The caption in Hindi for the X video, shared on July 9, 2026, reads: “I will not tolerate the implementation of Sharia law in Italy. I am Giorgia Meloni. I am a Christian. I am a daughter of Italy.”
The 10-second video appears to show the Italian prime minister speaking in English while standing at a podium with German and Italian flags aloft.
The video has been reshared more than 1,600 times and was posted by an account that previously shared false information.
Screenshot of a false post taken on July 16, 2026. Red X and AI symbol added by AFP
The same video was also shared on similar Facebook and X posts.
“Can our PM Modi (Narendra) speak like that?” reads a comment on one of the posts.
Another says, “That’s right, any country that is not Muslim, what does Sharia law have to do with that country, and why should it be enforced there?”
Meloni has previously said there is a “problem of compatibility” between certain interpretations of Islamic culture and the values and rights of European civilization, but the videos being circulated were fabricated using AI (archived here and here).
A reverse image search on Google using the opening frame of the accidentally shared video led to a news report featuring a matching photo of Meloni published on January 23 (archive link).
The photo, credited to the European Press Photo Agency (EPA), is captioned: “Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (not pictured) attends a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the sidelines of the Italian-German Government Summit at Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome, Italy, on January 23, 2026.”
This photo is also available on the EPA website (archive link).
A subsequent keyword search found a recording of a joint press conference posted on the Italian government’s official YouTube channel on January 23 (archive link).
The EPA photo corresponds to the 20:15 mark of the YouTube video.
A comparison of the mistakenly shared clip (L) and a screenshot of Meloni depicted in an Italian government YouTube video.
If you watch the entire video, you’ll see that Meloni speaks entirely in Italian, not in English as portrayed in the false post. Meloni’s earrings are also different from the ones seen in the mistakenly shared clip, with no black wire extending from her podium.
Additionally, the accidentally shared video also includes a Grok AI chatbot watermark in the bottom right corner.
Comparison of mistakenly shared clip (L) and YouTube video screenshots, including differences highlighted by AFP
Using the Hiya audio clone detection tool available in The Verification Plugin, we analyzed the audio of the accidentally shared video and found that it was also “very likely AI-generated” (archive link).
Screenshot of Hiya voice clone detection tool results
AFP previously debunked false claims about Meloni that relied on AI-generated visuals. The Italian Prime Minister also slammed AI-generated images of himself, calling such deepfakes “dangerous tools” that can target and harm anyone (archive link).
