Was the FBI the source for crisp, clear video a social media post distributed, saying it showed a person sought by the FBI in its investigation of the killing of political activist Charlie Kirk? No, that's not true: The real images released by the FBI were grainy pictures from security camera footage.The person who posted the high-resolution video has admitted it was created using generative AI tools, which introduced several false elements that did not exist in the FBI's grainy images.
The fake video was part of a September 11, 2025 X post (archived here) by the @ProjectConstitu account with the text: "🚨 BREAKING: FBI Names PERSON OF INTEREST in Charlie Kirk Assassination!"
It continued:
This suspect is armed & dangerous--authorities NEED YOUR TIPS to bring him to justice. He must be found & held accountable!
Call NOW: 1-800-CALL-FBI or contact
@FBISaltLakeCity
Share to spread the word!
This is what the ProjectConstitu video looked like at the time this fact check was written:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video posted at x.com/ProjectConstitu.)
These are the images released by the FBI on the morning of September 11, 2025:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X post by x.com/fbisaltlakecity.)
As several commenters noted, ProjectConstitution's fake video made up a t-shirt graphic that doesn't match what's seen in the security footage. The fake person has a rounder face and rounder shoulders. And, the real security footage shows a person in what appear to be sneakers, while the fake video adds audio of what sounds like boots or or hard shoes on a hard surface.
The @projectconstitu account posted several comments under its video, saying "the video is AI but the Pics aren't and the video helps enhance it", (archived here) and explaining how X's generative ai tool Grok was used:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of comments posted by x.com/ProjectConstitu.)
