Videos as weapons: this is how you recognize fake news from the war

class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>

As in the war against Ukraine, warmongers and political agitators are abusing social media in the war between Hamas and Israel. They use fake news to incite the opposing party or discredit political opponents. A lot of fake news is spread, especially on X, the former Twitter. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton (68) recently called on X owner Elon Musk (52) to take stricter action against illegal content on his short message service.

For example, is it true that Israel has dropped phosphorus bombs on the Gaza Strip, as a certain Hareem Shah claims? According to video footage from the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, yes. The alleged evidence comes from March 23, 2023, when Russia shelled the Ukrainian city of Wuhledar with incendiary ammunition. BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh discovered this.

The message from a certain Malik Naeem claims something similar: but this photo does not show war. It’s more like a screenshot from a computer game.

Often it is political propaganda

A video purporting to show visitors to the festival where Hamas committed a massacre seems downright cynical. You see screaming people who seem to be running away from the terrorist attack. “Festivalgoers are running for their lives,” it says. In reality it is a concert by American musician Bruno Mars (38) that took place a few days before the Hamas attack in Tel Aviv – and people are running to secure a good seat.

This is also a civil incident:

What is shown is not a warlike apocalypse, as the headline claims, but rather fireworks after a football match in Algeria. Additionally, the video has been edited to make it look more dramatic.

This is most likely political propaganda not directly related to the conflict in the Middle East:

The post claims that US President Joe Biden (80) has discussed up to $8 billion in defense supplies for Israel. The original was issued for Ukraine on July 25, 2023, the amount, beneficiary country name and date have been changed.

This is how you understand fake news

Anyone who shares such messages prematurely is playing into the hands of the troublemakers. That’s why it’s important to check the truth as best you can – and when in doubt, don’t spread the word. Some rules of conduct and research techniques help identify and contain fake news.

Look closely at videos and photos. Do people wear clothes that match the season? Do the depicted buildings fit into the area where the image was probably taken? Do you discover elements in the image that do not fit the landscape? Follow the trail of an image using the “reverse” search function. To do this, save the image to your computer and then go to, for example, Images.google.com or Yandex.com/images and upload it there.

Only post content from trusted, verifiable sources. Fake news spreads so quickly because it seems credible and plausible at first glance. Therefore, try to find out who originally broke the news and ask yourself: is this person or source trustworthy?

One post on Facebook or Twitter is not enough to classify something as true. Be sure to look for other, independent descriptions and sources. But be careful: messages that read completely the same ultimately just mean that others simply copied the message. The two-source principle applies to serious editors. A message may only be redistributed if it has been confirmed by at least two independent sources. Therefore, also look for relevant news in established print and electronic media.

You can do a lot of harm with statistics. The data used for this can often be viewed on official websites, such as statistical agencies or websites of other authorities. Check whether the figures are correct and say what is being claimed.

Check quotes attributed to someone. To do this, simply place the quote in question between quotes in the search field of a search engine such as Google or Duckduckgo.

Source:Blick