DeepFake Video: It Didn’t Flood Along The Jinja Bridge
A TikTok video captioned “Pray for people in Jinja” was shared with us via WhatsApp.
The video was posted on March 14th, 2023, and generated over 24,000 likes, 1000 comments, 2000 shares, and 898 people adding this video to their saved list.
A similar video posted on March 15th, 2023, was traced on the same app and captioned “mean while there is free fish on Jinja Bridge.” It had over 200 likes, 16 comments, and 5 shares.
In further research, we found another video of a longer version on a TikTok account that is not of a Ugandan. It was posted on April 15, 2023, captioned “This is not good!! He’s crossing a flooded suspension bridge while over water.”
Using Google reverse image search, we found a similar visual on B.R. Travels Bus Service’s Facebook group. However, we couldn’t find this video in the group feed.
Background
The New Jinja Bridge, also known as the Source of the Nile Bridge, is a cable-stayed bridge across the Victoria Nile in Uganda. Meaning, according to the video, the river flooded and covered the bridge with water.
Performing a simple Google search to determine whether there are reports about this incident in Uganda and internationally, we found none.
Analysis
The video shows that someone recorded it while driving along the Jinja Bridge. When you look closely, it’s raining and flooded, with fish playing in the water.
In the video, it is indicated that the driver drove normally in the rain. The car wipers worked smoothly in the flooded area without finding any hindrances. However, the floods covered the front part of the car, and it was impossible to drive through the water levels normally.
In the video, we don’t see any water running through. In reality, the water level couldn’t allow the car to move. This is because floods covered the front part of the car and the bridge, and it was extremely difficult to navigate through such high water levels.
Verdict
Based on the inconsistencies in the video, the TikTok video showing a car crossing a flooded bridge is a deep fake. It did not flood at the source of the Nile Bridge, nor did anyone drive through those floods, as the video suggests.
This fact-check was produced by the Debunk Media Initiative with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, the International Fact-Checking Network, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance network.
