Fact Check: Anderson Cooper Did NOT Endorse Supposed Elon Musk 'Crypto Trading Secrets'

AI Generated

Did CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper appear on Canada's CBC News to endorse a set of "crypto trading secrets" supposedly launched by Elon Musk? No, that's not true: A CNN spokesperson told Lead Stories that a video which appeared to show the endorsement was "fabricated and manipulated." AI detection tool Hive Moderation found the video and audio were likely created using AI technology.

The video appeared in a post (archived here) published on Facebook on January 29, 2025. The text caption of the post read:

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

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Feb 4 19:54:30 2025 UTC)

The video showed Cooper on the set of his CNN news program, "Anderson Cooper 360," but the on-screen image showed a "CBC" logo, presumably indicating the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In emails sent to Lead Stories on February 4 and February 11, respectively, CBC and CNN both confirmed they did not air the segment shown in the video. A CNN spokesperson told Lead Stories the video is "fabricated and manipulated."

The underlying footage was taken from an Anderson Cooper 360° segment, with a CBC chyron digitally overlaid.

Created using AI

Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool, found that the post's video and audio were likely created with AI technology, with an aggregate score of 87.8%:

(Source: Hive Moderation screenshot taken on Tue Feb 4 20:33:03 2025 UTC)

Hive Moderation also found a later section of the video, supposedly showing Musk discussing the "crypto trading secrets," had likely been created with AI technology, with an aggregate score of 99.5%:

(Source: Hive Moderation screenshot taken on Tue Feb 4 20:48:58 2025 UTC)

Lead Stories previously debunked similar deepfakes using Elon Musk's and others' images here, here, here and here.

Read more

Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims concerning deepfakes can be found here; on Elon Musk, here.