TikTok video

Fake Martin Weiss dragged into espionage scandal

An excerpt from the video showing the "wrong" Martin Weiss.(Bild: TikTok/Christo Grozev)

Ex-diplomat and head of the Salzburg Global Seminar Martin Weiss is now also involved in what is probably Austria's biggest espionage scandal. But only because his name is the same as a protagonist in the crime thriller...

The internationally renowned investigative journalist Christo Grozev has analyzed the Austrian espionage scandal surrounding the BVT and Egisto Ott in a TikTok video. However, he made a serious mistake in the process.

The journalist included a wrong photo in his 1:34-minute video from the social media platform on Tuesday. Former ambassador to the USA and Israel Martin Weiss, currently head of the Salzburg Global Seminar, suddenly found himself in the clip. But Weiss is not the Weiss who went into hiding before the espionage scandal broke.

Children to blame for mix-up?
Grozev was made aware of the mistake on the X platform (formerly Twitter). Also by Weiss himself. But nothing happened for around 24 hours. No correction of the error, no deletion of the video. Only the complaints about the serious error increased.

This afternoon, things started to move. The Bulgarian Grozev, who himself left Austria due to security concerns in the case, appeared remorseful today, Thursday. His children, who had created the video for the TikTok platform, had made a mistake in the choice of photos. He is extremely sorry.

Martin Weiss - the real one, not the one suspected of espionage - took it with humor.