Times Square billboard did not play Imran Khan’s video for Trump’s campaign, the clip is edited

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search to find the original video featuring YouTube vlogger Aroob Jatoi.

On November 4, several users on X shared a video of YouTube vlogger Aroob Jatoi jumping with joy over a video of Imran Khan and Donald Trump playing on a Times Square billboard. However, the footage has been doctored; the billboard originally displayed a montage featuring her and her husband, Saad ur Rehman, a well-known Pakistani YouTuber famously known as Ducky Bhai.

Amid the US elections, the Pakistani-American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC USA) endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying that the “legislative coup” against former Prime Minister Imran Khan was carried out under the Biden administration.

Imran has been imprisoned in Adiala Jail for over a year. His sentences in the previous two Toshakhana cases were suspended, and he was acquitted in the cipher and iddat cases, but he has since been charged in a third Toshakhana case.

HOW IT STARTED

On October 31, a user on X, who is a PTI supporter based on their display picture and past posts, shared a video of a billboard playing a video of Imran and US presidential candidate Trump having a chat.

The footage also features a YouTube vlogger named Aroob Jatoi who can be seen jumping with joy while pointing at the billboard.

The caption of the video reads, “Imran Khan is truly an international brand. In the American presidential election campaign, the campaign is being played by playing Imran Khan’s video so that Pakistani voters vote for Trump.”

The caption further reads, “Allah gives honor as He wills and humiliation as He wills.”

The video received 149,800 views and was reshared 5,200 times.

The footage, shared with a similar caption across multiple accounts, gained significant traction, receiving 225,000 views, 43,000 views, and 52,000 views respectively.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and the public’s keen interest in Imran Khan and in upcoming US elections.

To investigate the circulated video, a Google reverse image search was conducted to find the original video. Conducting a reverse image search of the video yielded results from October 28 on Ducky’s YouTube channel which redirected to a vlog titled, “Time Square Billboard Surprise For Aroob | Emotional | Last Day In New York, USA”.

Fast forwarding through the video, the time stamp of 15:11-15:25 shows Aroob reacting cheerfully to a montage of pictures being played at a Times Square billboard, featuring her and Ducky Bhai, whereas the edited video on the billboard shows a clip from 2019 when Imran visited US during his premiership to meet with then-president Trump.

A comparison between two screenshots taken from the same scenario shows a woman in a white jacket walking on the street, an outlet Pele soccer, a billboard of Adidas on the left, and an ad of Cheez Doodles playing on the right at Times Square, depicting the exact moment in the original and doctored clip.

Her reaction and gestures also match accurately with the video under investigation, confirming that the video of Imran and Trump was edited over the original clip.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a video featuring former Prime Minister Imran Khan and US presidential candidate Donald Trump was played at New York’s Times Square as part of Trump’s election campaign is false.

The clip has been edited, the billboard originally displayed a montage of photos of Pakistani YouTuber couple Ducky Bhai and his wife, Aroob Jatoi, as part of a surprise arranged by Ducky Bhai for his wife.