In Summary: A short video recently published by FrontPage Africa has been making rounds on social media, with some raising doubt that the video is fake, but a verification of the video shows that it is authentic.
On February 26, FrontPage Africa shared a short video of President Joseph Boakai and Human Rights activist Allen White on Facebook. In the video, the two men can be seen discussing matters surrounding the possibility of establishing the war and economic crimes court to prosecute perpetrators of war and economic crimes during the country’s 14 years of civil conflict.
Since the video surfaced online, some social media users have raised questions about the authenticity of the video, with some terming it as “fake”.
However, verification of the video using different online tools shows very little chance of the video being a product of manipulation or artificial intelligence.
Our verification of the video shows that it became widely spread days after the FrontPage Africa Facebook post.
Several media institutions in Liberia published news articles about the video. Some of these articles can be seen here, here, and here.
We also verified the chances of the video being a deepfake, using AI video detector Deepware. The result shows a very small possibility of the video being a deepfake.
Also, a further verify the video found an image of President Boakai and Allen White published in a news report by Liberia News Network and West African Democracy Radio exactly as seen in the viral video.
The image shows President Boakai sitting at a table with the flag and seal of Liberia behind him with Mr. White sitting at the same table directly opposite President Boakai. A camera can also be seen in the image.
Conclusion
Based on these facts, we, therefore, conclude that the viral video of President Boakai and Allen White discussing the establishment of a war and economic crimes court for Liberia is authentic.
The video has been published by many media institutions since it was first shared by FrontPage Africa on February 26.
We also found an image published by the West Africa Democracy Radio and Liberia News Network showing a clearer angle of the viral video.