Polvoron video

Thepolvoronvideois a video published on July 22, 2024, purportedly depictingPhilippinePresidentBongbong Marcossnortingcocaine. The video has been found to be adeepfakeby both Philippine government law agencies and independent fact checking bodies.
Thepolvoronvideo depicts a man, allegedlyPresidentBongbong Marcossniffing a white powdery substance.This substance is suggested to becocaine, or euphemisticallypolvoron.
Claire Contreras, a vlogger who goes by the name Maharlika would first tease the existence of thepolvoronvideo during a livestream on the Facebook page Boldyakan during the evening of July 21, 2024.Harry Roquein Canada asserted that the video toHakbang ng Maisugsupporters asserted the upcoming video is "not AI" and "underwent authentication".
Maharlika would published the video abroad on July 22, 2024, at theHakbang ng Maisugevent inLos Angeles,Californiaon the same date the2024 State of the Nation Addresswas set to be held inQuezon City.The event was attended by allies of former presidentRodrigo Dutertesuch as Roque himself and former candidate for senator,Glenn Chong
On August 25, Maharlika published a higher quality version of the video on her vlog.
Interior SecretaryBenhur Abalosordered the creation of a special task force to investigate the video. He would chide the release of the video's release in the United States questioning the video's propagators' credibility viewing it as a way to avoid liability in Philippine law.
On July 23, 2024, the Cybercrime Offices of theNational Bureau of Investigationand thePhilippine National Policereleased their findings that the man of the video is "definitely not" President Marcos, noting the discrepancies of the facial features of the man in the video and Marcos.
Rapplerran a copy of the video under SensityAI which gave a result that there is 81.8% confidence that a face swap was done on the video, publishing afact checkingarticle on July 25, 2024.
Vera Filespublished their own fact checking on September 16. The organization had the video verified, including the higher quality version published on August 25, with the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU) of theIndia-based Misinformation Combat Alliance which analyzed the video, highly suspecting it to have been manipulated throughartificial intelligence. DAU says that there are indications that aface swapmanipulation was done.
ThePresidential Communications Officereleased a statement reaffirming the statement that the video is fake citing theVera Filesreport.
Maharlika would discuss the verification process she made on the video on August 12 on her vlog. She did not specify any specific program or mention the identities of the forensic experts she consulted with. Maharlika disputed the findings of Philippine government agents. In an appearance atSonshine Media Network International(SMNI) she said she sought evidence the video was "untampered" showing a printed report confirming such from five test from an unknown source.
In September 2024,Harry Roquehas been reported to face a pendingdisbarmentpetition filed by formerNTChead, Melvin Matibag. Matibag refused to divulge any details but cited Roque's social media posts that included apolvoronvideo of President Bongbong Marcos allegedly snorting drugs. Roque stated his social media post of the video "is protected by free speech under the privilege doctrine" and added that Marcos has not admitted nor denied the allegations in the video.