AI manipulated video of Indian prime minister announcing free LPG cylinders misleads online
- Published on March 26, 2026 at 11:24
- Updated on April 6, 2026 at 03:50
- 2 min read
- By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India
The war in the Middle East has sparked a global energy crisis, with consumers in countries including India panic-buying fuel despite government assurances there was adequate supply. But a video purportedly showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing free Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders for the public is in fact an AI-manipulated version of an old speech. He has made no such announcement as of March 26, 2026.
"12 march LPG cylinders free book now" reads an Instagram post published on March 12, 2026.
The video circulated online as India grappled with concerns of fuel shortages as a result of the war in the Middle East.
The post comprises two clips -- one shows Modi announcing free LPG cylinder for everyone in face of the global crisis while the other, playing simultaneously, shows a long queue of people waiting to refill their gas cylinders.
A female voiceover then instructs users to "share the video with five people and fill in details on the link provided on Instagram page to get free LPG cylinders".
But the link instead leads to an education blog.
The clip was shared alongside similar claims on Facebook and Instagram as the Middle East war disrupted energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Restaurants in India, which is the world's second-largest LPG buyer reliant on over 90 percent of its supply from the Middle East, were forced to close or shorten its opening hours (archived links here and here).
Visuals of panic at LPG agencies and petrol stations spread online after the Indian premier said the current situation was "worrisome" during a parliament session on March 23, comparing this fuel crisis to the Covid pandemic" (archived links here and here).
Despite assurance from India's Petroleum Minister that the country had sufficient fuel stock, panic-buying from citizens resulted in long queues at filling stations (archived link).
But a voice-cloning detection tool Hiya found that the video had an 81 percent probability of being altered by AI tools (archived link).
Unrelated video
Reverse image searches on Google using the clip's keyframes found the original video uploaded on February 24, 2019 on the official YouTube account of the Prime Minister's Office of India (archived links here and here).
The video titled "PM Modi's speech at the launch of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in Gorakhpur, UP" shows Modi addressing the public during the launch of a Farmers' scheme in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state.
In this full version, there is no mention of "free LPG cylinders" during the entire 56-minute long video.
The false post video compiles several clips from Modi's full speech.
A closer observation of the clip spotted that the movement of Modi's lips does not match the manipulated audio.
AFP has debunked more AI-powered misinformation here.
April 6, 2026 Updates to add metadata
March 27, 2026 Updates several lines throughout for clarity
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