Shashi Tharoor's 'Rule Of Thumb' To Fact-Check 'Me' Videos

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor took to X to explain how people can fact-check and avoid believing deepfake videos of him that falsely attribute statements he never made. His “rule of thumb” for identifying such videos has since gone viral on social media.Posting on X, Tharoor wrote, “There are an alarming number of deepfake videos circulating of me, with convincing-sounding AI-generated voiceovers over genuine footage of old interviews, having ‘me’ saying things I have never said. I am disappointed that so many on social media are believing these lies and issuing baseless comments attacking me for views I have not expressed.”He further shared a simple “rule of thumb” to help people identify such fake videos. He said, “One simple rule of thumb:

if a statement (video or otherwise) does not appear on my timeline or that of the purported interviewer or media source, it is fake news. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

The post has since gone viral, garnering varied reactions online. One user wrote, “A strong and timely reminder by you, Shashi Tharoor. In an age of rising digital illusions, your clarity promotes awareness. When truth is upheld with vigilance, deception naturally fades. Standing with you in upholding authenticity, dignity, and truth.” Another user remarked, “This is going to become a default trust problem for every public figure, not just a reputational one. The only scalable fix is signed provenance, along with a habit of checking the original source before reacting.”Another user pointed out something unusual in his tweets and humorously wrote, “Tharoor ji ending tweets like Trump.” One more joked, “Don’t worry, no one can deepfake your vocabulary, even with thousands of Oxford dictionaries in hand.” Another commented, ''Thumb rule - AI English is not as good as Tharoorian English.'' One more wrote, ''can you post the deepfakes hear. you talk a lot on TV so it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction.''