Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves a news conference after announcing his resignation at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Canada on January 6, 2025 ( AFP / Dave Chan)

Trudeau's resignation prompts altered reaction clips

Published on January 7, 2025 at 22:40
4 min read
By AFP Canada

Social media was flooded with reactions to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement that he is stepping down, but several posts celebrating the end of his near decade in power contain manipulated footage. One video inserted his speech into unrelated footage from a bar, while others appear to be generated using artificial intelligence without including clear labels that the clips are digitally altered.

"Live reaction to Justin Trudeau resigning," is the caption of a January 6, 2025 video on X from American influencer Benny Johnson, who has previously spread misinformation.

The clip appears to show revelers at a bar reacting to a large screen projecting the address from Trudeau confirming his resignation. Similar versions of the video spread across Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, including in posts from politicians and in French.

Screenshot from X taken January 6, 2025

Trudeau faced mounting unpopularity as the October 2025 deadline to call an election in Canada loomed. After more than nine years in power, he announced on January 6 that he would resign as the leader of the ruling Liberals and as prime minister once a new member was selected to lead the party.

As news of the resignation spread, many took to social media to post their reactions often including clips of Trudeau's speech in front of his residence in Ottawa (archived here).

However, a reverse image search reveals the clip from the bar is altered. It uses footage of English football fans reacting to a Euro 2016 match goal (archived here) -- not the resignation of the Canadian prime minister.

The large television screen in the original video makes it easy to edit and the clip is often used to make jokes. But several of the posts that insinuated the footage showed people reacting to Trudeau's resignation failed to explicitly note the humorous intention.

Other manipulated clips

The clip of the bar was not the only altered footage that spread amidst the news that Trudeau would be stepping down.

As anticipation mounted before the prime minister's press conference, a January 6 clip of people toasting in a hot tub surrounded by Canadian flags appeared on X, evoking real images of protesters during the 2022 trucker convoy in Ottawa.

While it was accompanied by claims that it showed Canadians reacting to the news of Trudeau's resignation, warped facial features and objects, including a beer glass appearing to jump out from nowhere, indicate the footage was generated by artificial intelligence.

Captions on the clip -- which also appeared on Facebook -- did not clarify if the post was meant to be satirical or that it was made using AI.

Screenshot of an X post taken January 6, 2025

Similarly, a January 6 video on X of Trudeau breaking down in tears and wearing a pink skirt -- which also jumped to Facebook as a screenshot -- appears to be manipulated. The prime minister did appear misty-eyed during his announcement, but did not revert to near-sobs as seen in the social media clip.

The account that originally shared the post describes some of its content as "animated memes," but other users shared the video without a clear indication the clip is inauthentic.