It’s a short clip that purports to be Vice President J.D. Vance lashing out at Department of Government Efficiency chair Elon Musk in brutal terms. But is it real?
That wasn’t a question that people were asking before the clip went viral, generating millions of views — well, listens — on X, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram this week.
“Everything that he’s doing is getting criticized in the media, and he says that he’s helping, and he’s not. He’s making us look bad. He’s making me look bad,” Vance purportedly said in the clip, which was passed off as being recorded privately.
“And I’ll tell you this, and he wouldn’t like it if I said it: But he’s not even an American. He is from South Africa, and he’s cosplaying as this great American leader, in a room that has the portraits of some of the greatest men that ever ran this country,” the clip continued.
“And he has the audacity to act like he is an elected official. I am an elected official. I am an important one in this situation, not him. So if he wants to tank the economy and his cars, maybe that’s what he deserves.”
It’s unclear who patient zero was in terms of obtaining and/or creating this clip, depending on what the case may be; one source seemed to track it back to a random TikTok account, which is seldom a good augury for something’s legitimacy.
But it was clear who and/or what was amplifying it: notorious left-wing disinformation-sharers and viral trouble-starters.
“This is giving ‘She doesn’t even go here!’ vibes,” one of the users who went viral with this clip on Instagram, the account @agirlhasnopresident, wrote in the caption to the post.
“But you’re not saying this in public. I could wipe my [donkey emoji] with what you say privately. If you wanna do anything about anything, do it publicly. . Right now it’s just cat fighting. But keep at it! [popcorn emoji] [popcorn emoji] [popcorn emoji]”
“I’ve seen places where they swear this is real. I’ve seen a couple places that say it sounds like AI. I honestly can’t tell. But I think we all know this is really what’s happening behind the scenes.”
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What does this say, aside from the fact that OP really likes her some Orville Redenbacher? First, people don’t seem to care if it’s true — it feels true to them, so they’re sticking with this. Back in the day, I believe, this is what Stephen Colbert liked to call “truthiness.”
The clip made its way onto X, where Bishop Talbert Swan — a frequent poster of material that hasn’t been verified that makes his opponents, all uniformly on the right, look bad — was one of the superspreaders:
“He’s not even an American. He is from South Africa. And he’s cosplaying as this great American leader.”
– Vice President @JDVance on @elonmusk
The infighting is in full swing.
Happy Monday! pic.twitter.com/Jf0u9z1Uvu
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) March 24, 2025
As you may be able to tell from the numerous community notes and warnings on that post, however, this is almost certainly an AI deepfake.
Vance himself called out Swan in particular: “I’m not surprised this guy doesn’t have the intelligence to recognize this fact, but I wonder if he has the integrity to delete it now that he knows it’s false. If not, it could be defamation. I guess we’ll find out!”
It’s a fake AI-generated clip. I’m not surprised this guy doesn’t have the intelligence to recognize this fact, but I wonder if he has the integrity to delete it now that he knows it’s false.
If not, it could be defamation. I guess we’ll find out! https://t.co/raS524I4kq
— JD Vance (@JDVance) March 24, 2025
Several media outlets also found that the clip was almost certainly fake, including the BBC and German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
This “leaked” audio clip of JD Vance purportedly criticising Elon Musk in private is fake and most likely AI-generated.
The clip has racked up millions of views on TikTok and X, but there are several inconsistencies in it that indicate it’s been created using AI. pic.twitter.com/D0eoo4Zwzs
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 24, 2025
“The unusually low audio quality, a common trick to conceal evidence of manipulation or synthesis, is highly suspicious,” Hany Farid, a University of California Berkeley School of Information digital forensics expert, told the German broadcaster.
In addition, they noted, the country of Musk’s birth seems to be pronounced oddly in the clip.
“The audio is unclear at many points, and the term ‘South Africa” is not clearly audible. DW’s fact-checking team has listened to it multiple times, and believes it sounds somewhere between ‘South Africa’ and ‘South America.’ However, the subtitles read ‘South Africa,’ which may influence viewers’ perceptions,” DW’s report noted.
However, the broadcaster noted that it “tested various open-source audio detection tools, yielding mixed results. While most tools flagged the clip as likely inauthentic, some were inconclusive.” It concluded that the audio was “likely fake.”
Even if it wasn’t AI-generated, however — and most online tools seem to indicate it is — the fact that it’s authentic doesn’t mean that it’s from Vance himself. Without any video or context, this could merely be a skilled impersonator. Furthermore, the fact that it seemed to emerge from the ether on social media, absent any pickup in traditional media, lends credence to the theory that it’s a not-terribly-elaborate fakery.
That being said, the clip continues to spread on social media, with both Swan and others continuing to keep it up without acknowledging that fact checkers and AI deepfake tools have more or less debunked its authenticity. In fact, Swan’s doubled-down by re-posting these:
JD Vance wants you to know that this leaked tape is fake.
Don’t forget this is the same guy who said on TV that if he has to create stories, then that’s what he’ll do. @TalbertSwan
pic.twitter.com/CP8ImrsjDn— Marlene Robertson (@marlene4719) March 24, 2025
Prove that it’s fake.
Come on JD, prove it.
— JustTheFacts! ⚓️ ???????????? (@JustTheFacts_68) March 24, 2025
In this age of AI, however, the onus is on those making extraordinary claims; they need extraordinary evidence to back it up. Without so much as a source or even an analysis of the clip that leans toward confirming its authenticity, we have little choice but to rate this as likely fake.
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