Does an authentic video show former Minnesota high school student "Matthew Metro" alleging that Tim Walz sexually assaulted him? No, that's not true: According to multiple AI video and audio detection tools, the video circulating on social media of "Matthew Metro" was AI generated. There's no credible evidence or verified reports supporting the allegation that the Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate sexually abused a student.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) published on X, formerly Twitter, on October 16, 2024. The caption above the video said:
Breaking: Tim Walz's former student, Matthew Metro, drops a shocking allegation-claims Walz s*xually assaulted him in 1997 while Walz was his teacher at Mankato West High School. Metro was a senior at the time.
If this is true, it's a political earthquake.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Oct 17 16:32:49 2024 UTC)
This post and video provide no evidence to support the assertion that it is an authentic video of a former student alleging that Walz sexually assaulted him.
The claim also circulated elsewhere on social media, including this duplicate video (archived here) on TikTok on October 16, 2024.
Lead Stories used various AI-detection tools to determine that the video and audio in the post were fake.
TrueMedia
The AI detector tool TrueMedia (archived here) found "Substantial Evidence of Manipulation," meaning there's a greater than 90 percent confidence that AI generated the face and the voice in the video:
(Source: TrueMedia screenshot taken on Thu Oct 17 18:49:50 2024 UTC)
TrueMedia faces and voices
Additional analysis from TrueMedia is shown below:
(Source: TrueMedia screenshot taken on Thu Oct 17 18:55:31 2024 UTC)
Hive Moderation video
A tool on Hive Moderation, another website that detects AI-generated content, said the video is 90.7 percent "likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content." A screenshot appears below:
(Source: Hive Moderation screenshot taken on Thu Oct 17 18:54:26 2024 UTC)
Hive Moderation audio
Another tool on Hive Moderation said the audio is 94.2 percent "likely to be AI Generated." The screenshot is below:
(Source: Hive Moderation screenshot taken on Thu Oct 17 18:59:50 2024 UTC)
Resemble AI
Another AI audio detection tool, Resemble AI (archived here), also said the voice was "Fake":
(Source: Resemble AI screenshot taken on Thu Oct 17 18:59:50 2024 UTC)
Read more
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims concerning Tim Walz can be read here. Our fact checks of claims related to the 2024 U.S. general election are here.
