[imagesource: Twitter]
Social media is awash with videos showing the full horror of what is happening in Ukraine.
Fighter jets, explosions, tanks rolling through cities, residents cowering in underway subway stations – in amongst the intense drama of it all, it seems some people have totally lost sight of the human element.
Then there are those who, for some reason, get a kick out of sharing videos that have nothing to do with the current invasion.
Some have been doctored, some are old, and some ripped from video games have been passed off as real.
Gizmodo has put together a list of 10 with a few standouts:
This video, shared by several Twitter accounts after Russia invaded Ukraine, has been billed as “Ukraine launching anti aircraft missiles into the night.” In reality, it’s animated footage from the video game War Thunder.
How can someone possibly confuse a video game for reality? When you find versions online that aren’t quite so desaturated as the ones currently going viral you can see much easier that it’s not real.
Here’s the footage that has been repurposed online, uploaded to YouTube in December last year:
Another widely shared clip is also from a video game – Arma 3.
Rather ironic that the person sharing the video shoots themselves in the foot like this:
But it’s not any video game this what happening RIGHT NOW in Ukraine. #worldwar3 #RussiaInvadedUkraine #PrayForUkraine pic.twitter.com/aBCQnkLo45
— Pranay Chaturvedi (@Pranay318) February 25, 2022
Pranay, you’ve had a shocker.
This video went viral with the caption, “fires started by Russian airstrike set off chain reaction at Luhansk power plant Ukrainian.” But the video is actually from 2015 and shows a fire in Tianjin, China.
As much as people try and squash its spread, those willing to click ‘retweet’ or share will always outnumber those who take a moment to dig a little deeper:
*WARNING* | #FakeNews being circulated of huge explosion in #Ukraine. The video is actually from 2015 #Tianjin (China) explosion and has nothing to do with current #UkraineRussiaConflict or #RussiaUkraineConflict.#worldwar3 #Russia #UkraineRussiaCrisis pic.twitter.com/EFWxuQsO4p
— Tony Sahajlain
(@TonySahajlain) February 25, 2022
The image at the top of the page, showing a jet engulfed in flames, has been passed off as a Russian jet taken down by Ukrainian forces.
It appears to be from 2017.
The ‘Russian military paratroopers’ video is another shocker:
In reality, the video is a massive Russian training exercise from 2018. Another user pulled the video, however, and made it into an attempt to place the blame of Russia’s invasion on the Biden administration.
It’s amazing how many right-wingers in the US are suddenly on team Putin this week, praising a madman while the likes of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson parrots Russian talking points.
There are hundreds of versions of the video on Twitter alone:
Russian military paratroopers land in Ukraine, near Kharkov.#Ukraine #Russia #RussiaUkraine #war pic.twitter.com/cNzCLZd7BN
— Majharul Md (@majharul_00) February 24, 2022
See the rest of Gizmodo’s list here.
BBC also has a list of debunked videos worth a closer look.
As for TikTok, there appears to be absolutely zero desire to fact check anything these days. NBC News points out that even some supposed live footage is demonstrably false:
Some of the livestreams appear to be authentic, showing crowds gathered in major cities to protest Russian aggression. But other TikTok users are pretending to be in Ukraine, using doctored or dubbed footage of other places in an attempt to solicit followers and monetary donations…
Other videos posted to TikTok appear to be recycling old video and passing it off as coming from Ukraine. In one video viewed almost 20 million times on TikTok and posted about two hours after the first reports of shellings in Ukraine, a soldier is seen parachuting out of an airplane. “Bro is recording an invasion,” the top comment reads.
Spoiler alert – bro wasn’t.
i cannot believe im watching Russia invade Ukraine on tiktok pic.twitter.com/b31UcuP8oT
—
(@carlayschips) February 24, 2022
Fake.
Before spreading something, look at the comments on the video, and take a moment to try and verify its authenticity.
