Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Ben Carson Endorsing Blood Vessel-Cleaning Gummies -- Audio Is Fake

Fact Check

  • by: Ed Payne
Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Ben Carson Endorsing Blood Vessel-Cleaning Gummies -- Audio Is Fake Fake Voice

Did Dr. Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon and former Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary, endorse blood vessel-cleaning gummies? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Carson said that the claim is "completely fake." Additionally, a digital forensics and deepfakes website that analyzes audio and other media concluded that a recording purporting to show him saying that was not authentic.

The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) published on Facebook by Makeover BY Rimzim on December 20, 2023, under the title "To get your blood pressure to 120/80 at any age, stop drinking chemicals and start cleaning your blood vessels!" The post's caption said:

Dr. Ben Carson discovered 3 completely natural ingredients, and as a result, blood pressure disappeared forever. Headaches go away, blood cholesterol levels decrease, and symptoms caused by increased blood pressure disappear.

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:

chrome_463HkK6Wgz.png

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Dec 21 13:54:06 2023 UTC)

Google searches

A Google News search (archived here) on December 21, 2023, using the terms "Dr. Ben Carson discovered 3 completely natural ingredients, and as a result, blood pressure disappeared forever," found no results matching the claim in the post and video.

What it did find was a December 18, 2023, Lead Stories fact check that included a social media post that used the same wording but used Dr. Mehmet Oz as a purported endorser, a supposed endorsement that an Oz representative denied. A screenshot of the other social media post (archived here) appears below:

POWERPNT_szJBItxlaZ.png

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Dec 21 18:48:28 2023 UTC)

A regular Google search (archived here) also found no results indicating that Carson endorsed the gummies.

What the posts have in common, in addition to their wording, is that they link to fake web pages -- one masquerading as a respected science journal (archived here) and the other as a news website (archived here). The URLs for each do not match the legitimate websites for either -- nature.com or nbcnews.com. Both posts include links to purported interviews with the respective doctors. Ultimately, each post links to a website selling CBD gummies (here and here).

Ben Carson

Brad Bishop, a spokesman for Carson, provided the former secretary's response in a December 21, 2023, email. He said:

No, that is not Dr. Carson's voice and no, he has not endorsed or ever heard of this product. That is completely fake.

DeepFake-o-meter

To additionally verify the authenticity of the audio linked to the video clip, Lead Stories ran the sound from the Facebook post through an online tool called the DeepFake-o-meter (archived here), hosted by The University of Buffalo's Media Forensic Lab, which focuses on the forensic analysis of digital media. The website says it uses "deepfake detection methods" to analyze sound, images and video and then weighs in on the media's likelihood of being fake.

Lead Stories stripped the audio from the Carson video file as an MP3 and then uploaded it to the deepfake tool. The DeepFake-o-meter's analysis concluded (archived here) that "There is no chance that sample is real," giving it a 99.999 percent "Fake Probability."

A screenshot of the website appears below, followed by a screenshot of the emailed detection report sent to Lead Stories on December 21, 2023:

Ben Meter.png

(Source: DeepFake-o-meter website screenshot taken on Thu Dec 21 17:05:09 2023 UTC)

DeepFake-o-meter Detection Report:

Ben report.png

(Source: Detection Report screenshot from Lead Stories email taken on Thu Dec 21 2023 UTC)

Another clue that the video is a deepfake: There's a significant mismatch between the lip movements of Carson in the video and what he's saying.

Read more

Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims involving Dr. Ben Carson can be found here.

Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to deepfakes can be found here.

Want to inform others about the accuracy of this story?

See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:


  Ed Payne

Ed Payne is a staff writer at Lead Stories. He is an Emmy Award-winning journalist as part of CNN’s coverage of 9/11. Ed worked at CNN for nearly 24 years with the CNN Radio Network and CNN Digital. Most recently, he was a Digital Senior Producer for Gray Television’s Digital Content Center, the company’s digital news hub for 100+ TV stations. Ed also worked as a writer and editor for WebMD. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, Ed is the author of two children’s book series: “The Daily Rounds of a Hound” and “Vail’s Tales.” 

Read more about or contact Ed Payne

About Us

International Fact-Checking Organization EFCSN Meta Third-Party Fact Checker

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

Lead Stories is a:


WhatsApp Tipline

Have a tip or a question? Chat with our friendly robots on WhatsApp!

Add our number +1 (404) 655-4223, follow this link or scan the image below with your phone:

@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Most Read

Most Recent

Share your opinion