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Football player Cristiano Ronaldo did not mention the bee venom cream in the video, which an AI detection tool flagged as ‘suspicious’ with a 97% confidence level
Claim: Professional football player Cristiano Ronaldo and influencer and physician Dr. Geraldine Zamora advertised a medical cream made from bee venom that claims to cure bone and joint pain.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The Facebook post containing the claim was submitted to Rappler via email. The product is also advertised by multiple Facebook pages.
The ad shows Ronaldo seemingly talking about how the bee venom cream purportedly developed by Zamora helped him recover from joint pain. Zamora is also shown responding to Ronaldo’s statements and discussing the product’s benefits.
Fake ad: Zamora denied advertising the product in a Facebook post on June 8, and reminded the public to be smart and not fall for ads they see online.
“Hindi ako kailanman mag-eendorso ng brand ng gamot o supplement… Bawal po mag-endorso ng gamot at supplement ang licenesed doctors,” Zamora said.
(I have never endorsed a medicine or a supplement brand. Licensed doctors are not allowed to endorse medicine and supplements.)
AI-manipulated: The video containing the claim is AI-manipulated. Sensity, a web-based tool for detecting AI, found the video “suspicious” with a 97% confidence level.
Sensity noted that a high confidence level means that the content has “definite signals of AI generation or manipulation.” The Netherlands-based company also said that the minimum confidence for their detector is 50%.
According to Sensity’s analysis, lipsync technology is used in the video, making it seem like Ronaldo endorsed the product.
Unrelated interview: The ad used AI to manipulate a clip from an interview of Ronaldo with sports website LiveScore published on YouTube on January 12, 2023.
The ad spliced a clip from the original video, starting from the 2:31 to 2:44 timestamp of Ronaldo’s interview.
In the original video, Ronaldo was talking about the 2014 Union of European Football Associations Champions League final. The football player did not mention Zamora or the bee venom cream in the video.
ALSO ON RAPPLER
Not FDA registered: The HBESTY Joint Relief Cream endorsed in the misleading video is also not on the Philippine Food and Drug Administration’s list of registered products, as seen on its online verification portal.
Similar claims: Rappler has previously debunked a similar claim that used a clip of Zamora and two videos from GMA’s “Pinoy MD” health program to endorse a fake gout cure. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at [email protected]. You may also report dubious claims to the #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. You may also report through our Viber fact check chatbot. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
