Fact File: Viral video of Ghislaine Maxwell in Quebec City made with AI, creator says

A document that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, photographed Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, shows a photo of Ghislaine Maxwell in 2019. (Jon Elswick/The Canadian Press/AP)

A video of someone approaching a woman on a Quebec City street and asking if she is “Ghislaine” went viral after viewers noticed the woman’s resemblance to Ghislaine Maxwell.

The Instagram account that posted the video last week says it used artificial intelligence to place Maxwell’s face on the woman. The account is known for posting prank videos that use AI-generated faces, including the late Jeffrey Epstein.

The claim

A video posted to Instagram Wednesday sparked conspiracy theories about a convicted sex trafficker supposedly surfacing in Canada.

In the video, someone walks up to a man and woman standing in front of a Snack Québ store. The Canadian Press geolocated the store to 1045 St-Jean St. in Quebec City, based on the storefront and facade of the building seen in the reflection of the store’s window.

“Ghislaine, do I know you? You’re not Ghislaine?” the person filming asks the woman.

She shakes her said and says “No, sorry.”

The brief interaction went viral for the woman’s resemblance to Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who took his own life in a New York prison in 2019. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in the United States for sex trafficking.

The Instagram video received nearly seven million views and was reposted to Instagram, X, Facebook and TikTok. Some users claimed the woman spotted in Quebec was the “real” Maxwell and the imprisoned Maxwell is an impostor.

The facts

The account that originally posted the video on Instagram and Facebook edited the Facebook post to read, “This is a face-swap satirical video.”

“People will purposefully re-upload my videos without checking with me first if it’s edited or not,” the creator wrote in an Instagram story Sunday.

“My intent was never to spread misinformation but to make satire content, and I’m sorry for anyone who fell for it,” they wrote, adding “Ghislaine Maxwell was a face-swap.”

Artificial intelligence software allows video editors to “swap” one person’s face onto another’s. In a separate Instagram story Sunday, the creator said they would not post the original, un-swapped video to respect the woman’s privacy.

A frame-by-frame analysis of the video shows the first frame appears to reveal the woman’s real face. At one point as the camera pans, the woman’s face becomes distorted, suggesting the use of an AI filter.

The account that posted the video did not initially include an AI disclaimer on Instagram but has since added an AI label that notes the video was “made with edits.”

Similar videos posted by the account appear to use AI face filters, including one from this month where the creator approaches a man resembling Epstein. That video includes a “prank” hashtag but does not include an AI label.

Maxwell remains incarcerated in a federal prison camp in Texas. Earlier this month, she declined to answer questions from U.S. lawmakers during a deposition. Her attorney suggested she was “prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2026.

By Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press