Video showing CNN journalist criticising Ugandan opposition leader is AI-generated

“Larry Madowo message to Bobi Wine, Museveni forever (sic),” reads the text overlaid on a TikTok video published December 28, 2025. 

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Shared more than 300 times, the post features a video purportedly showing Madowo criticising Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi. 

“Ugandans, leadership is about ideas, structure, and results. Unfortunately, Bobi Wine's politics have too often relied on emotion rather than clear policy, slogans instead of solutions, and confrontation without strategy,” Madowo appears to say in the video. 

“While protests can raise awareness, it does not replace the hard work of building institutions, negotiating national unity or presenting practical plans for the economy, security, and service delivery,” he adds. “Uganda needs leadership that moves beyond outrage to responsibility, beyond noise to nation building. Passion alone is not a plan, and our future deserves more than mediocrity.” 

The claim was shared by a TikTok account called “vagekarim3”, which has more than 2,900 followers. 

“Good msg, bro. I will vote m7 4 a peaceful Uganda,” reads one of the comments under the post. 

“He thought Bobiwine was a sensible person at first,” says another. 

A review of the account’s feed shows that it contains other posts about Museveni and Ugandan politics.

The clip was also shared on X here and here.

Ugandan election

More than 21.6 million Ugandans registered to vote on January 15, 2026, with Museveni, who is 81, emerging the winner of a disputed election that sees him extend his four-decade rule into a 7th term (archived here and here). 

Wine, his main opponent, also lost to Museveni in 2021.

The singer-turned-politician was recently interviewed by Madowo ahead of the 2026 polls, during which he decried the violence meted out to him and his campaign team by security forces (archived here).

However, the TikTok video showing Madowo criticising the opposition figure is altered -- with its audio entirely generated with AI tools.

Doctored clip 

Using Google Lens to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the footage, AFP Fact Check found the original clip was published on Madowo’s official TikTok page on November 21, 2025 (archived here).

In the video, Madowo thanks the people of Tanzania for their help in gathering sources and data for a post election investigative report aired on CNN (archived here).

“People of Tanzania, thank you so much again for the way you assisted us with the CNN report that was aired today,” Madowo says in Swahili. 

“I’ve been speaking to Tanzanians who have shared with me hundreds of videos and photos, which I’ve collaborated with my colleagues to perform audio forensics analysis,” he adds. “We have used satellite and every tool at our disposal to ensure we are telling the truth.” 

In both clips, Madowo is seen speaking in front of the same background, wearing the same shirt and jacket.

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Graphics showing the the altered post (left) and the original clip published by Madowo, taken on January 15, 2026)

At no point does he mention Uganda or Wine.

A closer look at the altered video reveals some anomalies. Throughout the clip, Madowo has unnatural lip movements and his voice sounds robotic -- typical of AI-generated content. 

AFP Fact Check also extracted the audio from the TikTok post and analysed it using Hiya -- a voice-cloning detection tool. 

The result shows a 96 percent likelihood that the audio was artificially created.

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Screenshot showing the results from AI detection tool Hiya, taken on January 13, 2026

Further searches led to another TikTok post containing the altered video, which the platform labelled as AI-generated.

Ugandan authorities had ordered an internet shutdown on January 13, 2026, saying it was necessary to prevent "misinformation" and "incitement to violence" (archived here).

The shutdown spilled over into technical problems during the elections. 

AFP Fact Check debunked an AI-generated video claiming to show Museveni warning Madowo against conducting post-election reporting in Uganda.