Misleading Deepfake Video of Trump Mocking Zelenskyy for Clothing Goes Viral on Facebook

In March 2025, an AI-generated deepfake video of Donald Trump criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his clothing circulated widely on Facebook. In the video, Trump mocks Zelenskyy by calling him "Temu Zelenskyy." The video was created by a parody YouTube channel using AI voice and face synthesis tools, but it was reportedly mistaken by some viewers as real.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 3 Misinformation
• Primary risk subdomain: 3.1 False or misleading information

The AI system was used to generate a highly realistic but false video of a political figure making statements he never made, which misled social media users.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The incident was initiated by a human creator who intentionally used AI tools to generate a parody deepfake video of Donald Trump.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Limited Risk: The system generated deepfake content, which under the EU AI Act requires clear disclosure to users that the content is artificially generated.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: unspecified
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Voice Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown voice cloning technology developers, Unknown deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: DangerousAI
• Alleged harmed parties: YouTube users, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, General public, Facebook users, Donald Trump

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Negligible. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Negligible, indirect Minor
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Negligible, indirect Minor
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Malicious content

Reported: Yes, the report describes the creation and spread of a deepfake video mocking political figures.

Directly caused: The creation of a synthetic video depicting Donald Trump insulting Volodymyr Zelenskyy by calling him 'Temu Zelenskiy' and comparing him to homeless people.

Indirectly caused: The viral spread of this mocking synthetic content on Facebook, exposing users to derogatory political commentary generated by AI.

Epistemic

Reported: Yes, the report describes Facebook users being misled into believing the deepfake video was authentic.

Directly caused: The generation of a highly realistic synthetic video that falsely attributed derogatory statements to Donald Trump.

Indirectly caused: Social media users believed the video was real, leading to false beliefs about Trump's actual statements and behavior, as evidenced by a user calling for God to 'shut this loquacious POTUS up'.

Inferred additional harm: Widespread exposure to unlabeled political deepfakes contributes to the erosion of a shared consensus reality and increases public skepticism toward genuine news.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 2
• People reportedly exposed: 1000

Potential causes

Technology

• Generative AI Voice Cloning: AI voice cloning technology realistically replicated the subject's voice.
• Deadpan Facial Expressions: AI video generation produced deadpan facial expressions typical of deepfakes.

Data Inputs

• Real-world Events as Prompt Data: Actual Oval Office events were used to craft a highly plausible fake script.

Human Factors

• User Confirmation Bias: Some viewers believed the fake video due to existing political biases.
• Credulity of Social Media Users: Users shared the parody clip as real without verifying its authenticity.

Process and Methods

• Lack of Context Preservation: The creator's parody disclaimer was lost when the video was shared.
• Inadequate Platform Moderation: Facebook failed to detect and label the deepfake video as manipulated.

Regulatory Environment

• Lack of Deepfake Labeling Mandates: No regulatory standards require mandatory labeling of AI-generated media.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report provides clear, verified facts from a reputable fact-checking organization, detailing the origin of the video, the technology used, and the reaction of social media users.

An AI-generated parody deepfake of Donald Trump mocking Volodymyr Zelenskyy went viral on Facebook, causing minor epistemic confusion among some users. The incident represents a low-level, human-driven misinformation event with minor national security implications, manageable through standard fact-checking and platform moderation procedures.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Scope: Multiple nations
• Primary target: United States
• Other affected: Ukraine
• Alleged perpetrator: DangerousAI

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The incident represents an ongoing strategic concern regarding deepfakes rather than an active crisis requiring urgent national security intervention.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI system was strictly utilized as a tool by a human creator who wrote the script and directed the synthesis process.
• Novelty: Established threat. Deepfakes of high-profile political figures are a well-established and frequently observed phenomenon on social media platforms.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical systems, critical infrastructure, or human safety elements were targeted or affected by this synthetic media incident.
• Information security: Minor. Represents low-level synthetic media dissemination. While depicting key political figures, it was a localized parody shared on social media rather than a coordinated, state-sponsored hostile information operation.
• Sovereignty: Negligible. No disruption to core government operations, electoral systems, or sovereign decision-making processes occurred as a result of this video.
• Economic security: Negligible. No impact on financial systems, critical supply chains, or strategic technological advantages.
• Societal stability: Minor. Caused minor epistemic confusion among some social media users who believed the parody was real, but did not lead to civil unrest or systemic human rights violations.