Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
via a video posted on TikTok It has been claimed that the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, has spoken in Albanian and has shown that he is of Albanian origin.
The video posted by the account “albania_191919” on November 13 also includes a photo of him with US President-elect Donald Trump. “Trump creates Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk,” is the caption above the photo.
While in the full material there are also the inscriptions "For the first time! Speaks Albanian in public" and "Elon Musk with Albanian origin in the Trump Government".
What's wrong with the material?
Hibrid.info has also covered in the past the same material in which Musk is heard speaking in Albanian. Through applications for interfering with video content, it was noticed that the material has been manipulated.
Through the automated online program “InVID”, hibrid.info has found the video material published in October 2022 by a YouTube channel, in which it is clarified that it is a video (deepfake) made as a “software test”. The YouTube channel named “Elementi Shqip” in publishing this material, in addition to indicating that it is a “deepfake” creation, also calls for this video “not to be taken seriously”. (see here)
Deepfake is a term that describes materials – audio, photos and videos – created using artificial intelligence (read more about it). deepfake).
The publication made the day before, until the moment of treatment by hibrid.info, has received over 380 thousand views. The publication has so far received over 11 thousand likes and almost 450 comments. Among them are comments that have taken the content of the publication for granted.
The publication came on the day Trump, as US president-elect, announced that he would appoint his supporter Elon Musk to co-head the Department of Government Efficiency (details).
The photo used under the video, which claims Musk is speaking in Albanian, was taken from the page "Alfapress.al" on Facebook.
Latest developments and who is Elon Musk?
According to the prestigious magazine "Forbes", Elon Musk is the richest man in the world with over $300 billion in wealth. In the profile for Musk, this magazine notes that he has founded seven companies, including the well-known electric car manufacturer "Tesla", the manufacturer of space transportation equipment "Space X" and most recently the artificial intelligence company "xAI".
Meanwhile in "wikipedia", Elon Musk is said to have been born in 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa, and to have moved to Canada at the age of 18, obtaining citizenship through his mother who was born there. His mother, Maye, is a model from Canada, raised in South Africa. While his father, Errol Musk, is a South African engineer.
The day before, President-elect Trump reported that Musk will co-lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The role of this department will be to create a more efficient government. Musk has publicly supported Trump in the presidential campaign for the November 5 elections, offering millions of dollars in support of the now president-elect.
Analyze:
Through a TikTok post, it has been claimed that billionaire Elon Musk - who was recently chosen by new US President Donald Trump to lead a new department in the US - is of Albanian descent and speaks Albanian.
Hibrid.info has verified the same content in the past. The video that was claimed to be real was created through artificial intelligence, through applications for interfering with video content. The material has even been on YouTube since 2022. The video on YouTube states that it is a "deepfake" creation and calls for the material not to be taken seriously.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info evaluates this video material as "Fraud".
Reasoning:
The “Deception” rating is given to informational content that is manipulated in terms of visual (deepfake, cheapfake), audio, or textual content to deceive the audience. This form of deception is usually used to produce false and manipulated content.