Fact Check: Viral Video Of President Macron Criticising The Indian Air Force Criticising The Indian Air Force Is A Deepfake

New Delhi (Vishvas News). Following French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to India, a video is rapidly going viral on social media. It claims that Macron rejected India’s request for a full defence partnership, calling the Indian Air Force (IAF) ‘incompetent’. Believing the video to be true, many users are expressing concern about India’s global image.

Vishvas News investigated the viral video and found it to be completely fake and AI-created.

What’s going viral?

The Facebook page ‘Political Drama‘ shared a video reel on February 19, 2026, where Macron can reportedly be heard saying:

“I remain grateful to Prime Minister Modi for successfully begging us to become a missile partner with India. He actually wanted us to be a full defence partner, but when I sat with our team, they clearly said that we cannot become a complete defence partner with India. We have already lost a billion dollars in the Rafale market because of the inefficiency of the IAF. We can’t be a part of any failed organisation to further tarnish our name.”

Investigation

Macron was on an official state visit to India from February 17-19, 2026. During this three-day visit, he attended a bilateral summit with PM Modi in New Delhi and participated in various events commemorating the 28th anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership. During his visit, Macron participated in several high-level meetings to enhance cooperation in key areas, such as defence , space, climate change, and AI. He also addressed the “India AI Impact Summit 2026” held in New Delhi, where he on future technology and innovation. According to official records, the visit concluded on February 19, 2026, with both countries committing to further deepening defence and security ties under the ‘Horizon 2047’ roadmap.

Vishvas News began its investigation by examining official documents. We examined joint statements issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the French govt between February 17-19, 2026. The official joint statements discussed strengthening the defence ties and increasing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. These statements make no mention of rejecting any partnership or criticising the Air Force.

Continuing our investigation, we located the original video used to create the viral video. We found the full video uploaded to ANI’s YouTube channel on February 17, 2026. In this video, Macron is seen discussing India-France strategic relations and technological cooperation. The words heard in the viral video are not present in the original video.

To verify the authenticity of the video, we tested it with several AI detection tools.

Five different models of the DeepFake-o-meter tool developed by the University at Buffalo confirmed that the viral video was AI-manipulated.

The advanced audio detection tool Aurigin.ai indicated a high probability that the voice in the video was AI-generated.’

The Undetectable AI tool also confirmed discrepancies in the audio and lip-sync.

Vishvas News contacted AI expert Azhar Machwe for more information. They analysed the video and reported that a strange pause in the background score and a ‘robotic tone’ in Macron’s voice were clear signs that it was created using synthetic media tools.

Lastly, we examined the Facebook page ‘Political Drama’, which shared the viral video and found that the page has around 4000 followers.

A similar deepfake video of PM Modi regarding India-France relations also went viral; a fact check by Vishvas News can be read here.

Conclusion: Vishvas News’ investigation confirmed that the viral video of President Emmanuel Macron is a deepfake. He has not criticised the IAF or refused to enter into a defence partnership. Bilateral relations between the two countries are strong.

Tags

• Emmanuel Macron
• French President Emmanuel Macron
• Indian Air Force
• Operation Sindoor
• Rafale jets