Category Media taken out of context

Video clips mischaracterized as showing fake Ukraine war footage

A recent Instagram post sharing a TikTok video issues a "wake up call," purportedly pointing to several clips as evidence that scenes of war in Ukraine have been staged.

Using reverse image searches and InVid, a site that helps identify the origins of video clips, we found the ones featured in the Instagram post, and neither is meant to show real footage of the war in Ukraine.

Those claims were wrong, and so is this one. We rate the claim that these clips show fake war footage in Ukraine Pants on Fire.

October 26, 2022
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Ukraine

Finland did not advise citizens to ‘urgently buy iodine tablets after escalation of war in Ukraine’

Several Thai posts have shared a misleading claim that the Finnish government advised its citizens to urgently buy iodine tablets after an escalation of the war in Ukraine. It circulated in October 2022 after the Nordic country updated its guidelines on the use of iodine in case of a radiation hazard. A government official told AFP that events in Ukraine would not compromise radiation safety in Finland. They added that their guidelines aim to ensure there is protection for the most vulnerable in case of an emergency resulting from a nuclear reactor accident, as they are heavily dependent on nuclear power.

CNN didn’t report that Uganda’s president said it would be ‘disgusting’ to support Ukraine

Uganda's president came out as an early supporter of russia but this is not a real CNN headline.

The post appears to be an altered screenshot of a 2014 story on CNN's website. The story features a paused video of Museveni in which he appears wearing the same outfit and in front of the same background as the image of him in the Instagram post.

We found no credible news reports or other sources documenting Museveni as saying it would be disgusting to support Ukraine.

We rate that claim False.

October 24, 2022
Aid to Ukraine Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings International community Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Ukraine USA

Video game clip falsely shared as NATO military convoy being destroyed in Ukraine – Truth or Fake

A viral post on Facebook claims to show a convoy of NATO military advisers being destroyed by Russian missiles. While many users believe that the images represent actual fighting, they were actually taken from a war video game series called Arma 3. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

October 24, 2022
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings International community Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions NATO Russia Ukraine

Were these Ukrainians staging a fake battle scene? Nope, it’s a music video

Pro-Russian social media accounts have been widely circulating a video over the past few weeks that shows a man dressed as a Ukrainian soldier acting out a scene in front of a camera. These accounts have claimed this video is proof that people are staging scenes of theÂ war in Ukraine. Turns out, however, the video was filmed during the shooting of a music video by a Ukrainian artist whose music represents the "pain of war".

Photo of Zelenskyy holding a jersey with a swastika was altered

This photo was altered. In the original, Zelenskyy is holding a jersey that has the number 95, not a swastika.

The original image was distributed by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service in June 2021. According to a caption on Agence France-Presse's website, it shows him "posing with a jersey of Ukraine's national football team."

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed the idea that the effort is one of "denazification," a narrative historians have decried as "false and destructive."

We rate claims Zelenskyy was holding a jersey with a swastika False.

The man in this video is an actor, but it does not mean the Ukraine war is being staged – Truth or Fake

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, repeated false claims have appeared on social media alleging that the entire conflict is being staged. FRANCE 24's fact-checking team debunk the latest example: two videos that show a man in Ukrainian army uniform being filmed, as he appears to act out a scene on the battlefield.

October 21, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings International community Media taken out of context Methods Narratives NATO Russia The war is a hoax Ukraine

No, these photos don’t prove that Zelensky is filming his videos in front of a green screen

Pro-Russian social media accounts have been circulating photos and a video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky standing in front of a green screen, claiming that this image offers proof that the videos that he publishes on social media are filmed in a studio and not on the ground as claimed. However, these pictures don"t prove anything of the sortÂ -Â they were taken during a forum where the president appeared as a hologram.

Crimea bridge blast — what’s real, and what’s fake?

A truck, a boat and an ID card - the search for clues after the Crimea bridge explosion is mired with fakes. One particularly clumsy deception comes from the Russian secret service, as our fact check shows.

Posts mischaracterize photo of BBC journalist during attack in Ukraine

Screenshots of a BBC news report shared on social media purport to show a journalist exaggerating the danger of a Russian attack on Irpin, Ukraine. This is misleading; the reporter has refuted the claim, and the posts ignore the shelling that took place in the area where the footage was filmed.

October 13, 2022
Fact checks / debunkings Images Media formats Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Resources Ukraine