Viral Clip Showing Erling Haaland Startled Is a Face‑Swap, Fact‑Checkers Say
The finding shows how easily face‑swap edits can be created and how provenance tracing and platform labels are used to correct viral misinformation.
Overview
- Fact‑checkers found the 13‑second clip that appeared to show Erling Haaland being startled was digitally edited and does not show the player.
- Researchers traced the source material to a 31‑second TikTok skit by comedy duo @jinlongqiuqiu that was posted on June 15 and used the same background, tray and food items as the spoof.
- The altered edit was posted and widely reshared on X on June 29 by account @Crazymoments01 and amassed millions of views before platforms and users flagged it.
- X applied an AI‑generated label and linked the original video while frame‑by‑frame forensics noted ear shape differences and blurred, 'melting' fingers and automated detectors returned mixed scores (for example, Truth Scan ~91% and other tools ~53%).
- The episode highlights how fast AI face swaps spread during high‑interest events and why human provenance checks, clear platform labels, and better detector consistency matter for stopping false viral content.