London: Ever since Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, had uploaded a picture of her following a worldwide debate on social media platforms over her whereabouts, she certainly has been hitting headlines, obviously for the wrong reasons. Although she clarified the reasons for her absence by posting a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, it seems the netizens were not convinced by her efforts as they tagged it "a deep fake video".
In the video posted on Friday, Kate said she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after tests done following her major abdominal surgery in January revealed cancer had been present.
"My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment," said Kate. "This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family."
Dressed in jeans and a jumper, Kate looked pale and tired in the video, which was reportedly filmed on Wednesday. However, netizens are now claiming the video was manipulated digitally. Some users started a debate on social media claiming the footage might have been an "AI-enabled deepfake". Some users questioned why the leaves or grass weren't moving in the background.
Besides, some users also pointed to the absence of a dimple on her cheek, which has been prominent in other images of the Princess.
It is worth mentioning this wasn't the first time when the picture of Kate sparked controversy. Earlier when she posted a family photograph with her children, initially, all media houses had published it but later retracted citing "manipulated". Later, she admitted that the image was altered digitally and said she "occasionally experiments with editing".
"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day," the official social media handle of Kate and Prince wrote.
