Misinformation escalation in Israel-Iran conflict: Deception through altered videos and artificial intelligence-manipulated images
Alright, let's set the mood straight here: Social media is buzzing with misinformation about the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, and it's our duty to separate fact from fiction.
Not Israel Today, But a Time to Celebrate in Algeria's Streets
A viral video on the interwebs shows a city with descending red lights - people claiming it's chaos in Israel. Wrong! This video is from a sports celebration in Algeria. By running a quick image search, we traced the screenshot back to a YouTube video dated August 9, 2024, showcasing the anniversary festivities of Mouloudia Club d'Alger (MCA) football club. Some sequences are flipped, a common trick used by misinformers to fool you. And guess what? We've got more proof; multiple Facebook and TikTok posts from 2024 shared similar fragments, proving it's completely unrelated to the ongoing conflict.
Not Haifa's Glowing Skies Today, But a Night Marred by Explosions in 2024
An image of a city engulfed in a fiery explosion is being passed around as a current instance in Israel. False alarm! Upon conducting a reverse image search, we discovered the photograph has been floating on the internet since 2024. It depicted the aftermath of one of Israel's bombings on southern Beirut on October 3, 2024. Renowned newspapers like the New York Times, El País, and Clarín reported on that incident, and they all stated that the picture was taken by photojournalist Amr Abdallah Dalsh for Reuters news agency.
Not a Real AI-Generated Explosion in Tel Aviv, But a Piece of Digital Art
A hoax video is circulating, claiming to show an explosion in a city due to an Iranian attack on Israel's air defense system. Not possible, man! Tracing the video back to its roots, we found it was first posted on TikTok in April, tagged as a "#ai" creation. The original post included the disclaimer, "The creator labeled it 'Generated by AI'". It also bore the watermark of OpenAI, a US AI research and deployment company.
Not Iranian Missiles Over Tel Aviv, But an Explosion in China, Back in 2015
A viral video shows explosions in a city, with posts alleging it to be an Iranian missile drop on Tel Aviv. Wrong again! This video is from the Chinese city of Tianjin, where a massive explosion rocked the city on August 12, 2015.
And before you ask, no, it's not footage of the destruction of the Mossad headquarters, the war in Ukraine, or a petrochemical plants explosion in Tarragona. We've busted these claims too! Remember, misinformation travels fast, especially during conflicts, so always fact-check before you share. Stay informed, stay safe!
- A viral claim on social media suggests a city engulfed in chaos is current Israel, but it's a video from 2024 celebrating Mouloudia Club d'Alger's anniversary.
- An image of a city in flames, being shared as a recent incident in Israel, is actually a photograph taken in 2024 during an Israeli bombing on southern Beirut.
- A hoax video showing an explosion in a city due to an alleged Iranian attack on Israel's air defense system was first posted on TikTok in April 2021 and labeled as an artificially intelligent-generated video by its creator.
