A debunked child abuse claim aimed at Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) is being revived thanks to a video that looks to be an artificial intelligence-generated (AI) deepfake.
The conspiracy theory first arose last week after a far-right account on X shared alleged emails from a man who claimed he was sexually abused as a minor by Walz.
The emails were quickly deemed to be fraudulent after numerous issues were unearthed, including inconsistencies with date formats that didn’t match those used by the email provider.
The account behind the claim previously spread the hoax that an “ABC Whistleblower” revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris received questions before the presidential debate.
Now, on Wednesday, a video of an alleged abuse victim surfaced on X. In it, the man, said to be named “Matthew,” claims he was sexually assaulted in 1997 while a student of Walz at Mankato West High School.
The video is being cited by opponents of Walz as evidence of the claim’s validity, especially from supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
“Finally a first hand allegation from somebody willing to come forward? Very interesting after this last couple weeks,” one user on X wrote.
“Walz gives off pedo vibes,” another right-leaning user wrote. “I recognize a predator when I see one.”
In the initial claim, the supposed victim said the assault happened in 1996 at a concert, whereas this “victim” alleges an incident at school in 1997. Despite the discrepancies and dubious narratives, accounts hyping the video are claiming it is proof of Walz’s past behavior.
Not all right-wing users are convinced. Many are noting the bizarre accent and speech pattern in the video. Others say the video is an outright fake intended to give “conservatives a bad name.”
“What’s with the accent,” one commenter asked. “Doesn’t sound like he’s from Nebraska.”
“This garbage keeps giving conservatives a bad name,” another added.
Matthew does appear to be a real person from Illinois. But a comparison by the Daily Dot between the man from the video on X and posts from Matthew’s Facebook profile shows a clear difference in both face and voice.
Users on X also compared the man in the video to Matthew’s Facebook profile and high school yearbook.
Matthew has not posted to Facebook since May 2021 when he shared a GoFundMe link aimed at helping him “get off the streets.”
Shayan Sardarizadeh, a disinformation expert with the BBC, argues that the video is likely a deepfake.
“A video of a man who calls himself Matthew and claims to be a victim of assault by Tim Walz as a schoolboy in 1997 is gaining millions of views,” he wrote. “The video has all the hallmarks of a deepfake, with very unnatural facial features and an out of sync voice.”
It remains unclear if the account who first shared the video, @TheWakeninq, is in any way associated with the user who spread the fake emails last week.
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