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Fact Check
Video shows Minister Vijitha Herath accusing President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of spreading lies across the country.
The viral video is edited using AI. The clip is from a 2016 press conference in which Vijitha Herath criticized the Rajapaksas, not President Dissanayake.
A viral video circulating on social media appears to show Minister Vijitha Herath accusing President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of spreading lies.
The 12-second clip was posted on TikTok by user @matta696969 and shows Herath speaking in Sinhala, saying, “Our party leader Anura Kumara brother has started spreading lies throughout the country today. We earnestly request the people of this country not to accept these lies.”
The post also carried a Sinhala text reading “රට පුරා පච පතුරවන්න පටන් අරන්… අහුවෙන්න එපා පච වලට,” which translates to, “They’ve started spreading lies all over the country… don’t get caught up in the lies.”
The same video clip was widely shared on Facebook as well. Posts containing it can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.
We began by checking whether any mainstream media outlets had reported on such a statement by Minister Vijitha Herath, but found no relevant reports.
On closer inspection, several elements in the viral video appeared questionable. The footage shows Minister Herath speaking in front of a Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) backdrop. Although the JVP is the main constituent party of the NPP alliance, Herath currently serves as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the NPP government. This raised doubts about the video’s authenticity. In addition, in the video, he refers to Anura Kumara Dissanayake only as the “party leader” instead of “President.” While Dissanayake is the leader of both the JVP and the NPP, not referring to him by his current role as President further raised our doubts. Finally, the unusual jumps between words in Herath’s sentences suggested that parts of the footage may have been cut or edited.
We then conducted a reverse image search using key frames from the shared video. This led us to a 1-minute-43-second clip posted on the YouTube channel “Lanka Truth” on May 7, 2016. In this video, Vijitha Herath can be heard saying, “The Rajapaksas are spreading lies about our party leader Anura Kumara brother throughout the country today. We earnestly request the people of this country not to accept these lies.”
We also found a news article by Newswire, dated from August 15, 2025, carrying key frames from the viral video, reporting that “a complaint had been lodged with the CID against a prominent youth activist of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) over an AI-edited video clip targeting Minister Vijitha Herath.”
The same news was also reported by other outlets, which can be seen here and here.
The viral video claiming to show Minister Vijitha Herath accusing President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of spreading lies is not genuine. TThe viral video is edited using AI. The clip is from a 2016 press conference in which Vijitha Herath criticized the Rajapaksas, not President Dissanayake.
Our Sources
YouTube video published on Lanka Truth on May 7, 2016.
News report published on Newswire on August 15, 2025.
News report published on Daily Mirror on August 15, 2025.
News report published on Sri Lanka Mirror on August 16, 2025.
Altered media
Keerthika Mahalingam
July 25, 2025
Keerthika Mahalingam
April 29, 2025
Keerthika Mahalingam
March 8, 2025
