US President Joe Biden will leave office in January 2025. Days before the November 2024 US presidential election, a video of Biden purportedly announcing plans to relocate to Zanzibar upon retirement was published on TikTok and has since been viewed thousands of times. Another video of President-elect Donald Trump followed, shared by the same TikTok account, and appears to show him responding to Biden’s alleged relocation plans. However, both videos exhibit signs of AI-generated audio. The footage in both clips is also years old.
On October 30, 2024, a TikTok account shared a clip of Biden purportedly announcing his retirement plans.
“Biden is moving to Zanzibar,” reads the Swahili text overlaid across the video.
A screenshot of the altered video, taken on November 20, 2024
The Zanzibar archipelago — also known as the Spice Islands — is found off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean (archived here).
“As I promised you a few years back, that when I retire, I will move to Zanzibar with my family. I want to reassure you that I have already purchased an island on the east coast of Zanzibar near Kiwengwa,” Biden appears to say while speaking from a lectern. “I had a very long discussion with President Doctor Hussein Mwinyi on this issue. I understand that we have full support of Mama Samia regarding my residency in the Spice Islands.”
Mwinyi is the president of Zanzibar, while Samia Suluhu is his Tanzanian counterpart.
The clip was also shared here on TikTok and in other posts published here and here on X.
Two days later, the same TikTok account shared another clip purportedly showing Trump responding to the Biden-Zanzibar relocation claim.
“Trump has spoken on Biden’s decision to relocate to Zanzibar,” the text on the video reads in Swahili.
A screenshot of the altered video, taken on November 20, 2024
“Joe Biden says he wanna move to Zanzibar when he retires, that’s his decision. I wish him well. I don’t care but his policies on economy is foreign, and even domestic policies are diabolic, very detrimental to our country,” Trump appears to say. “When I assume office, I’ll talk to Samia, I’ll say to madam president…please look after him. He’s done enough damage on our economy; it’s now a good time to enjoy white sand beaches in your country. He needs to relax.”
Both videos, however, are hoaxes.
Altered videos
A closer look at both videos shows Biden’s and Trump’s lip movements look unnatural. Moreover, the pronunciation of some words and pauses mid-sentences sound robotic, features characteristic of videos generated using artificial intelligence.
AFP Fact Check ran the first video through InVID-WeVerify deepfake detector, and the results suggested strong evidence of AI manipulation.
A screenshot of InVID-WeVerify’s deepfake detector results, taken on November 21, 2024
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches of multiple keyframes from the first video and found that the original footage of Biden was published on YouTube by PBS News on July 26, 2022 (archived here). Matching features indicate that this footage was altered to create the clip shared on TikTok.
During his speech, Biden endorsed the prohibition of assault weapons to safeguard law enforcement officers and the public. He also discussed the Save for America programme aimed at improving public safety, along with other security concerns.
At no point in the address does he mention moving to Zanzibar.
Results from the InVID-WeVerify deepfake detector tool also found strong evidence of AI manipulation of the Trump TikTok clip.
A screenshot of InVID-WeVerify’s deepfake detector results, taken on November 21, 2024
Reverse image searches of keyframes from this second video established that the original footage shows Trump in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on October 27, 2016 (archived here).
In the interview, Trump was responding to a question on former first lady Michelle Obama’s criticism of him.
The videos in question predate current events and were doctored to change their original audio.
BBC reported that 82-year-old Biden is expected to move to Delaware when he leaves the White House (archived here).
Biden is serving his final term in office after dropping out of the 2024 US presidential election (archived here.) He endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris for the position, who subsequently lost to Trump at the November 5 polls (archived here and here).
