False videos are circulating after the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv. One fake “BBC” report falsely claims an Indian passenger was behind the incident and links him to the stabbed pilot, Smit Machchhar. The video though, is an AI-generated deepfake: the BBC never broadcast it, and its footage and audio were doctored.
A second clip was also misrepresented and filmed in Dubai, not over where the incident occurred. Vedika Bahl fact-checks in _Truth or Fake._ One account known for spreading anti-Indian disinformation and fake news shared what it claimed was a "BBC" news report about the attempted hijacking. In the video, a presenter claims that an Indian passenger, Raghav Menon, was responsible for the incident.
The caption of the post further alleges that two Indian nationals secretly met with Mossad and recruited Menon - described as a former Indian intelligence RAW agent - who was supposedly working with the pilot, Smit Machchhar. But the video is a deepfake, and the claims it contains are unfounded. The BBC never broadcast this report.
Footage of BBC presenter Sally Bundock has been digitally manipulated, as has the accompanying audio. Using the Mever deepfake detector, part of the InVID verification tool developed by AFP, we found a 99% probability that the video was AI-generated. We also found genuine footage from two days ago of Bundock presenting a segment about OpenAI while wearing the same outfit.
This appears to be the source footage used to create the deepfake, although we cannot establish with certainty whether it is the exact clip used. There are further visual signs of manipulation. The graphics and fonts used in the fake report do not match the BBC's usual visual style.
The presenter’s mouth movements appear blurred, while the voice has characteristics of digitally manipulated audio. An AI watermark is also visible in the top-left corner. The claims about a Raghav Menon are not supported by any verified sources we could find.
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