A viral video of Washington County Commissioner Nafisa Fai speaking in front of an upside-down American flag is real, not a deepfake as the Oregon Journalism Project (OJP) initially reported.

OJP retracted its story Tuesday, Oct. 20, after new images confirmed the flag at an Oct. 10 event in Minneapolis was genuinely inverted. The photo the outlet had used to dispute the video now appears to have been digitally altered, according to the Beaverton Valley Times, which first reported the altered-photo angle.

The controversy matters locally because Fai is running against fellow Commissioner Pam Treece for chair of the Washington County Board of Commissioners. Ballots were mailed Oct. 14 for the November election.

How the story unraveled

Video and photos surfaced online showing Fai speaking in Somali at the Minneapolis event in front of an upside-down U.S. flag. The clip went viral after the X account "End Wokeness" shared it to its 3.9 million followers, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Sean Hannity also shared the footage. The Oregon Republican Party, meanwhile, alleged the screenshot credited to Fai had been digitally altered.

OJP interviewed Fai on Oct. 16 and published a story Monday, Oct. 19, calling the video a deepfake. The outlet cited a screenshot, originally credited to Fai, that showed the flag right-side up. Fai shared the OJP story on her campaign Facebook page, writing: "This is a prime example of how AI can attempt to interfere with political campaigns and destroy people's reputations and lives."

Readers quickly raised questions. By Tuesday afternoon, OJP had unpublished the article.

"OJP then obtained new images that showed the flag at the Minneapolis event had in fact been upside down," the outlet wrote in its editor's note. "For that reason, we have unpublished the original story. OJP regrets the error."

The altered photo

The screenshot OJP originally published shows apparent inconsistencies, according to the Beaverton Valley Times. A section of the flag in the lower-left corner appears misaligned, and a corner of a star appears to be missing near the top.

KATU reported finding cached Google photos from the Somali TV Minnesota Facebook page showing Fai and other speakers at the same podium with the flag upside down. A YouTube video thumbnail also showed the inverted flag. The original Somali TV Minnesota photos and video have since been deleted.

OJP's retraction said the conflicting video had been provided by a Fai campaign supporter. It remains unclear who supplied the screenshot.

Fai's response

Fai told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Tuesday, Oct. 20, that her campaign did not send the image to OJP. Campaign manager Brooke Hill initially told the newspaper Monday, Oct. 19, she would provide screenshots and original video showing the flag positioned correctly. Nearly six hours later, Hill reversed course, writing in an email that "we have no online material produced or approved by the campaign" related to the video.

Fai said she did not know how the flag was oriented when she was on stage, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. She said she would never intentionally speak in front of that backdrop.

The Beaverton Valley Times reported that Fai did not respond to its request for comment.

The Nov. 3 runoff between Fai and Treece will decide who leads the five-member board. Fai led the May 19 primary with 39.1% of the vote to Treece's 33.1%.