At the end of February 2025, the news dispersed in social networks: three years ago, the US agency for international development (USAID) allegedly paid Time magazine to give the title of man of the year to Vladimir Zelensky. We checked the reliability of such publications.
On February 28, the network dispersed on the network about the sponsoring the USAID magazine Time. According to these reports, the American agency paid for the President of Ukraine to be recognized as the man of the year. The evidence was given a video allegedly released by New York Post. The video says that from the moment Trump returned to the White House, the Department of Efficiency of State Administration (DOGE) has discovered a huge amount of funds wasted by the state. In 2022, approved in the video, USAID paid $ 4 million Time, and in 2024 more than $ 8 million-Politico. In addition, USAID allegedly sponsored 6,200 journalists in 707 media and another 279 non -profit organizations in the media. At the end of the video, Trump's words about billions of dollars spent by USAID and other state agencies are given to support the democratic party and its agenda.
Telegram channels shared the video or information from it itselfUncle Glory"(170,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Voblya • News"(125,000),"Bocharik (yeah, the same)"(106 000),"Ivan Utenkov | Kursk"(75 000),"Three heroes and Zelensky addict"(42 000).
December 7, 2022 Time Recognized The man of the year of Vladimir Zelensky and the spirit of Ukraine - under this concept, the magazine united all Ukrainians who resisted the Russian invasion. The explanation of the editorial office said that the president of Ukraine became a symbol of persistence, rallying his country and having received unprecedented support of the West. According to the editorial office of Time, Zelensky’s decision to stay in Kyiv and using their influence in the information space was fateful.
Time Prize "Man of the Year", existing Since 1927, one of the most famous journalistic traditions. The editorial office of the magazine chooses a person, a group of people, an idea or object that had the greatest influence on the events of the outgoing year - regardless of whether this influence was positive or negative. The decision is made exclusively by Time editors, without external intervention, voting or sponsorship. Traditionally, the winner is announced in December, summing up the results of the year. In addition to Zelensky, Trump became a man (in 2016 And 2024 year) and his close associate Ilon Musk (in 2021-m), as well as Vladimir Putin (in 2007).
In the upper right corner of the video is the logo of the tabloid New York Post. The video itself consists of previously published in open sources of photographs and collages and is accompanied by a roster voice of the host. Subtitles in English are visible at the bottom of the screen. However, in addition to the logo on the cover, the viral video is significantly different from video materials published in the verified accounts of the New York Post. Firstly, it is made in a horizontal format, which is uncharacteristic for such short news videos on YouTube or Instagram. Secondly, as a rule, in original The edition of the publication uses order music, accompanied by subtitles. When the news is voiced by the host, his face, name and position are also indicated In the video. Thirdly, the design itself is very different from the New York Post style: in the original video The publication logo is located in the upper right corner only on the covers, while the text of the heading there is usually absent. In the first frame and further in the original rollers, the logo was added immediately under the heading. In addition, two videos use a different font.
The distributed video does not indicate which of the New York Post reporters voices it. This voice is not found in the real videos of the publication, moreover, it sounds monotonously and unnatural. All this suggests that voice acting could be created using artificial intelligence (AI). FACHECHERS FROM Lead Stories checked the audio track through the tool Invid. The analysis showed that the sunset voice was most likely generated by AI.
On the site usaspending.gov, where information about the state procurement of the United States is collected, there is no information about sponsoring the Time magazine any of the American agencies. The search by the name of the legal entity does not give any results - this suggests that budgetary funds were not spent on the work of this media. Edition Financed Mostly due to income from advertising, branded content and sales of subscriptions.
“Verified” did not find the plot and information about the payment of the title “Man of the Year” for Zelensky for any of the official resources of the New York Post (X, Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, YouTube, Official site). Other media also do not confirm this information.
The viral video also contains data on the transfer in 2024 Politico $ 8 million. told About this statement in another analysis. This is also not true, Politico received this money from various departments of the US government for acquiring access to the Politico Pro platform, and not in the form of grants or fees for specific articles.
The creation of videos that mimic under the subjects of authoritative media is an extremely popular reception among pro -Kromelev fakeles. "Checked" more than once Disassembled Similar cases, including dedicated Speaks USAID. However, in the case of the New York Post primary source It is not an anonymous pro-Russian Telegram channel, but an English-language account in X with the username Maga Finest (@emaraldtec). He posted a post with a fake video on February 26 at 20:25 Moscow time, the video scored 18,000 views. The content on the @emaraldtec page mainly consists of generated images, calls for subscription and interaction, as well as retweets of the posts of right -wing politicians. After 20 minutes. After the first publication, the same video appeared on the Johny Midnight (@ites_the_dr) page, there more than 4 million users saw it. Then he Distributed and according to Russian -speaking sources.
After the Trump administration suspended USAID and announced an audit of his operations, unconfirmed statements about the allegedly hidden expenses of the US government began to be actively distributed on the network. Similar news became popular, including in Russian-speaking Telegram channels and the media. "Verified" published Two Collections With the analysis of such messages.
Thus, the New York Post did not release a video that the USAID paid Time $ 4 million so that Zelensky was awarded the title of “Man of the Year”. The viral video was forged, and the information in it is not true.
Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons
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