Tag: Debunked

A flood of misinformation about migrants in Lampedusa

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Thousands of individuals, predominantly from sub-Saharan Africa, have recently arrived on the small Italian island of Lampedusa, reigniting the discussion on the EU and European states’ approach to handling illegal immigration. Amidst this context, people online have been sharing three deceptive videos with the intent of disparaging migrants arriving in Italy.

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  • One video shared on X (formerly Twitter) claims to show a fight among migrants in Lampedusa. However, a reverse image search reveals that the video dates to 2021. It shows a fight outside a club, nowhere near Lampedusa.

  • Some people have also shared a video showing migrants dancing with NGO staff, claiming the scene took place this weekend in Lampedusa. However, the video was taken in August, in the UK.

  • Finally, one video claims that migrants who made their way into Europe through Lampedusa had started skirmishes in Stuttgart, Germany. The incident did indeed take place last weekend, but there’s no indication that it involved migrants.

The fact-check, in detail

On September 14, around 7,000 migrants landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa in the span of just 48 hours. So far in 2023, nearly 126,000 migrants have arrived in Italy – twice as many as last year.

Against this backdrop, a number of videos have been shared on social media networks targeting migrants. 

This fight between ‘migrants’ dates back to 2021 – and isn’t in Lampedusa

“The migrants in Lampedusa, Italy are getting restless,” reads the caption on this video shared on X on September 18. The video shows a group of people in the midst of a violent fight. A group of young men are seen beating another man, who appears to be taking cover behind a policeman before being chased away by the group.

The video had garnered more than 169,000 views on X before it was deleted.

September 18 post on X claiming to show a fight between migrants in Lampedusa. © X / @WallStreetSilv

A simple reverse image search (click here to find out how) reveals that the original video was published on August 10, 2021 by Rossini TV, a regional channel based in Pesaro, central Italy.


The title of the report states that the video shows a brawl in Marotta, a village near Pesaro. 

We searched for details about the incident and found that several local newspapers reported on a brawl outside a Marotta club on August 7, 2021. During the fight, which started inside the club, a Senegalese man was stabbed in the abdomen. Two Italian police officers were also injured while trying to intervene. Four people were arrested, including two Albanians, a Dominican, and a Senegalese person.

The video was published two years ago, and has nothing to do with the current influx of migrants to Lampedusa.

These migrants filming themselves dancing with volunteers and members of NGOs were not in Lampedusa

With over 3 million combined views on X, a video posted on several accounts claims to show migrants taking selfies while dancing with volunteers from NGOs, even though they have just arrived on the island of Lampedusa.

Screenshot on X, September 16, showing migrants dancing with members of an NGO, allegedly in Lampedusa according to the post's caption.
Screenshot on X, September 16, showing migrants dancing with members of an NGO, allegedly in Lampedusa according to the post’s caption. © X / @stillgray

There are several indications that the scene did not take place in Lampedusa. Firstly, when the person filming himself with the NGO members dancing, you can see a red and white logo on an employee’s jacket: it identifies the NGO Care4Calais. 

On its website, the organisation explains that its volunteers work with refugees in the UK, France and Belgium. Members of Care4Calais are not currently in Lampedusa. 

If you go further, using a reverse image search, you can find an earlier post featuring the same video. On August 25, 2023, @BFirstParty, the X account of the British political party Britain First, already published it, accusing the Care4Calais association in the caption of being a “traitorous” NGO, having committed a serious faux-pas by dancing with refugees at the border in the UK.

Screenshot taken on August 25 on X, showing the reaction of the British political party Britain First after members of the NGO Care4Calais danced with refugees.
Screenshot taken on August 25 on X, showing the reaction of the British political party Britain First after members of the NGO Care4Calais danced with refugees. © X / @BFirstParty

We contacted Care4Calais, who confirmed that this video does indeed show some of its volunteers dancing with refugees. They also confirmed that the video was not taken this month. The organisation added: “There is no context to the video. As you will be aware, Care4Calais delivers humanitarian aid to refugees in northern France. Whilst distributing that aid, our volunteers interact with refugees with kindness and compassion, often sitting down to share stories (some, as you can imagine, are very harrowing) and in this video they are enjoying a dance.”

Therefore, this video was not taken in Lampedusa, and has nothing to do with the current migrant arrivals on the Italian island.

Clashes don’t involve migrants who arrived via Lampedusa

After the arrival of migrants on the island of Lampedusa, this video was posted on X to denounce the impact of welcoming them to Europe. In a caption, the @Linfo24_7 account claims that the people behind the violent clashes in Stuttgart on Saturday were “illegal immigrants from Lampedusa”.

Screenshot from September 17 of an X post claiming that migrants from Lampedusa have sparked clashes in Germany.
Screenshot from September 17 of an X post claiming that migrants from Lampedusa have sparked clashes in Germany. © X / @Linfo24_7

A reverse image search reveals that the scene was filmed in Stuttgart on September 16. The violence in Germany followed an Eritrean cultural festival organised by groups close to the president, as confirmed by Africa News. 

During the day, opponents of the government came to protest against the festival, triggering scuffles between pro- and anti-government Eritrean activists. People close to the opposition were accused of assaulting the police as they intervened to stop the conflict.


There’s no indication that migrants who had just arrived in Lampedusa had travelled to Stuttgart to start riots, or that those involved had arrived via Lampedusa illegally. Furthermore, an article by Sud Ouest explains that, as early as July, a similar conflict had broken out between Eritreans north of Frankfurt. 

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No, this video doesn’t show Russian ballistic missiles in Niger

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A video reported to show trucks transporting Russian ballistic missiles in Niger has been widely circulating amongst West African Facebook and TikTok users since August 11. It turns out, however, that the video was filmed in the Republic of the Congo, not Niger, and shows trucks transporting storage tanks.

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  • A number of West African social media accounts have been sharing a video showing two trucks carrying large cylinders. The accounts claim that the cylinders are a type of Russian ballistic missile called “Satan 2”.
  • One of these videos has already garnered more than four million views on TikTok.
  • However, in reality, the cylinders are not missiles – they are storage containers, likely for transporting oil. 
  • Finally, the video was filmed in Congo, not Niger. 

The fact check, in detail

The video, first posted on TikTok on August 11, shows two trucks carrying enormous cylinders with red stars on them. The trucks are driving past a number of buildings. 

The audio – the sound of women crying and screaming – seems to have been added to the footage. First posted by an Ivorian TikTok account, the video has since garnered four million views. 

Text on the video in French reads: “Delivery of ballistic missiles to Niger, Satan 2 [Editor’s note: a type of extremely powerful intercontinental Russian missile] in Niger”. 

The TikTok user who published this video on August 11 claims that it shows Russian “Satan 2” missiles being deployed in Niger. © TikTok

The video was picked up and shared by a Facebook account that often comments on news in West Africa. The account also seems to be in favour of the military coup that took place in Niger. Posted on August 11, the video has since been shared a thousand times. 

On August 11, the same video was picked up by a Facebook account.
On August 11, the same video was picked up by a Facebook account. © Facebook

In the comments section, many people said the footage was likely fake. 

Many people who commented on the footage shared on TikTok on August 11 said that they thought the trucks were likely carrying water tanks (in French, citernes).
Many people who commented on the footage shared on TikTok on August 11 said that they thought the trucks were likely carrying water tanks (in French, citernes). © TikTok

No, this video doesn’t show ‘Satan 2′ missiles

While the red star on the tanks may look like a Russian symbol, we know that “Satan 2” missiles are not transported on the back of trucks like the ones shown in the video. The public got a glimpse of how Russia transports these missiles during tests carried out at the Russian Plesetsk Cosmodrome back in 2018.

This video shows
This video shows “Satan 2” missiles being transported to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in 2018. Russian Ministry of Defence

In this photo, you can see that the “Satan 2” missile, also known as “RS-28 Sarmat”, is usually transported using a specialised vehicle. These same vehicles were on display during a military parade that took place on May 9, 2022.  


This BBC report on the Russian military parade that took place on May 9, 2022, commemorating victory over the Nazis shows the vehicles used to transport Russian ballistic missiles like the “RS-28 Sarmat” (footage begins at 2:17).

These vehicles don’t look anything like a semi-truck. Moreover, the exterior of the missile – which is khaki green and includes several metallic components – looks nothing like the objects in the video. 

In the first image (at left), there is no sign of the metal equipment visible on the actual missiles (at right). Nor is there any sign of the warhead shape or the khaki green protective covering.
In the first image (at left), there is no sign of the metal equipment visible on the actual missiles (at right). Nor is there any sign of the warhead shape or the khaki green protective covering. © Observers

Moreover, even when its khaki protective covering is removed, the missile doesn’t look like what is being transported on the trucks in this video. You can see the missile, without protection, in this Bloomberg video that shows a test of  “RS-28 Sarmat” that took place in April 2022.


With its dark warhead end and white body, the “Satan 2” missile doesn’t look like the cylinder being transported by a semi-truck in the video that has been widely circulating.

But if this video doesn’t show a “Satan 2” missile, then what does it show?

Typical features of fuel storage tanks

At the top of the cylindrical objects being transported by the trucks, there are two rounded protuberances. 

In this screengrab, taken from the video, you can see two protuberances on either side of the cylinders.
In this screengrab, taken from the video, you can see two protuberances on either side of the cylinders. © TikTok

These are openings that allow for the liquid stored in the tanks to be pumped out. They are typical of liquid storage tanks that will be buried.

There are a number of different storage tanks used for storing oil. You can see that they are very similar to the cylinders that appear in the video: a cigar shape with two openings at the top.
There are a number of different storage tanks used for storing oil. You can see that they are very similar to the cylinders that appear in the video: a cigar shape with two openings at the top. © Observers

The tanks, often made out of fibreglass or metal, are often used to store oil in liquid form. 

The shape of the last truck, which you can see in the upper section of the video, in the background, looks like the kind of truck used to transport oil, like the one shown in the photo below.
The shape of the last truck, which you can see in the upper section of the video, in the background, looks like the kind of truck used to transport oil, like the one shown in the photo below. © Observers

An employee at Sanergrid, a company that specialises in manufacturing this type of storage tank, shared these images with our team. 

The expert said that the video likely showed a subterranean containment pit or another type of oil storage container.  These containment pits are often used to hold pollutive liquids in case there is a spill from an electrical transformer. 

Video taken in Pointe-Noire, in the Republic of the Congo

Even though the video doesn’t show much of the location where it was filmed, there is enough to figure it out. At one point in the footage, you can see a blue-green wall in the background. Black letters on the wall spell out “Betsaleel”. After that comes what looks like the beginning of the French word “maternelle”, which could indicate a primary school (called an école maternelle in French).

During two short moments in the video, you can read the words on the blue-green wall. First, you can see the name
During two short moments in the video, you can read the words on the blue-green wall. First, you can see the name “Betsaleel”, followed by “matern…”, which seems like the start to the French word “maternelle”, which might indicate a primary school (école maternelle). You can also see the words “anglais” (English) and “complet” (full). © Observers

In the comments section, a number of people say that the video was filmed in Pointe-Noire in the Republic of the Congo. We did a Google search for “betsaleel” and “Pointe-Noire” and pulled up information on the “Complex School Betsaleel College Primary Maternal” in Pointe-Noire, which offers primary through secondary education. 

We took a look at the street where the school is located on Google Street View. When we compared it to the video, it turned out to be the same place.  

In these images, available on Google Street View, you’ll recognize the word
In these images, available on Google Street View, you’ll recognize the word “Betsaleel” from the video, as well as the blue-green wall. The square black light (here outlined in yellow) also appears in both images, helping us to identify that they were filmed in the same location. © Observers

This screengrab, also taken from Google Maps, shows the buildings across the street from Betsaleel school, including a modern-looking building, a series of columns (in pink) and a brown kiosk (in blue).
This screengrab, also taken from Google Maps, shows the buildings across the street from Betsaleel school, including a modern-looking building, a series of columns (in pink) and a brown kiosk (in blue). © Observers

Our team contacted Betsaleel School. They confirmed that the video did indeed show the outer wall of their establishment. Thus, we can say with confidence that the video was not filmed in Niger, but in the port city of Pointe-Noire in the Republic of the Congo. 

In conclusion, this video doesn’t show “Satan 2” missiles in Niger. It actually shows storage tanks used for storing liquid fuel in Pointe-Noire, in Congo Brazzaville. Moreover, the “Satan 2” missiles are still in a testing phase: to our knowledge, they have not been deployed abroad. 

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Watch out for these images fuelling a conspiracy theory about the Hawaii wildfires

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In the wake of the fires that tore across the Hawaiian island of Maui on August 8, a number of images have been circulating on social media. The unrelated videos have been fuelling a conspiracy theory, born in the 2000s, that says wildfires are caused by laser weapons known as “directed energy weapons”.

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  • On August 8, devastating fires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui, ravaging the major city of Lahaina. 
  • Since then, several videos purporting to show the island before, during and after the fires have been posted on Facebook and elsewhere. They are all unrelated to this tragedy. 
  • What all these images have in common is that they fuel a conspiracy theory that the Maui fires were caused by “directed energy weapons”.

The fact-check, in detail

A video with more than 100,000 combined views on X (formerly Twitter) shows a huge blast of light that seems to travel some distance, resulting in smoke and fire.

It was first posted on August 13, with the caption, “Maui was attacked by directed energy weapons (dews)”. The video was reposted the next day by an account that claimed, “What happened in Maui was more than just wildfires … It appears directed energy weapons may have been used and possibly why there was such a sudden and tragic loss of life!!”

A video showing a blast of light was shared on Twitter on August 13, 2023. © Twitter

According to these users, the tragic fires that ravaged Maui were in fact set intentionally, by a laserbeam weapon. Directed energy weapons are a very real type of weapon, using a laser beam or microwaves. They can perforate, damage or disrupt an object’s electronic systems from a distance. But these systems are mainly designed for defence against drones and high-speed missiles. There is no evidence that such weapons have ever been used to cause fires.

The cause of the Maui fires, which have claimed more than 100 lives since August 8, remains unknown for the time being.

The viral video is blurry, making it hard to see exactly what is happening, or where it might have occurred.

In fact, a higher-definition version of this video exists. It was posted on YouTube in December 2018 by local television channel WWL-TV, which serves New Orleans, Louisiana. The caption on the video says it was a cellphone video taken by a viewer “down Williams Boulevard” in Kenner, Louisiana.

The blast of light is in fact an electrical explosion that traveled through power lines and caused sparks to fly. “Thousands” of Kenner residents lost power as a result, according to WWL-TV.

The explosions were caused by severe weather and high winds, according to this post from December 2018.

A blast of light appearing … in Chile

Another video shared on Facebook on August 14 shows a large beam that seems to hit a building in an urban area, clear characteristics of a supposed “directed energy weapon”.

A number of accounts shared the video, including this French-speaking user, who wrote, “What’s happening in Maui, Hawaii?” 

On August 14, this account, which usually focuses on African news, published a montage of images of the Maui disaster. In the middle is this excerpt showing a beam hitting a building.
On August 14, this account, which usually focuses on African news, published a montage of images of the Maui disaster. In the middle is this excerpt showing a beam hitting a building. © Facebook

But this video has nothing to do with the fires in Maui, as confirmed by AP in this article. The video actually comes from a TikTok post dated May 26, 2023. The person who posted it said that it was taken in the Macul district of Santiago, Chile. When it was reposted to support the “directed energy weapons” conspiracy, the video was enlarged and flipped, making it harder to see what was really going on.

A capture of the original TikTok, published on May 26.
A capture of the original TikTok, published on May 26. © TikTok

But what could have caused the beam seen in the original video? According to a report on Chilean television, the explosion was caused by a branch hitting an electrical transformer.

The beam itself is simply a refraction from the camera lens. In fact, if you play the video frame-by-frame, it’s possible to see that the explosion occurs before the beam appears, rather than the other way around.

In the video posted on TikTok, we first see the explosion (left, 0:00), then the beam appear (0:01).
In the video posted on TikTok, we first see the explosion (left, 0:00), then the beam appear (0:01). © TikTok

An industrial incident at a refinery

On X (formerly Twitter), another account claims to have proof that directed energy weapons were the cause of the Maui fires. “They’re using Direct Energy Weapon (sic) to try and advance their climate agenda”, this post, in French, explains.

The post contains a low-quality image that appears to show a beam causing an explosion. Another post with the same photo and a caption in English claims: “I can confirm this, this was #DEW (Direct Energy Weapon) They have been using these is (sic) Canada Australia and other places.”

This Twitter account, which regularly publishes conspiracy content about the fires in Hawaii, believes that this image, posted on August 11, is proof of the use of directed energy weapons.
This Twitter account, which regularly publishes conspiracy content about the fires in Hawaii, believes that this image, posted on August 11, is proof of the use of directed energy weapons. © Twitter

Once again, the image has been debunked. Snopes, an American verification media, was able to find the original context of this scene. It is in fact an incident that took place in January 2018 at a refinery in the city of Canton, in the US state of Ohio. It was reported in the local press. An Internet user also shared this photo of the event in the comments of a Facebook post by The Canton Repository.

A screenshot of the first occurrence of this image, posted on Facebook in 2018.
A screenshot of the first occurrence of this image, posted on Facebook in 2018. © Facebook

Again, no connection with the Maui fires. Similar claims like these, attributing wildfires to a government conspiracy or high-tech weapons have proliferated in recent months. Last June, we debunked a claim that called into question the cause of fires in Canada.

Read moreNo, these satellite images aren’t proof that the Canadian wildfires are a conspiracy

The idea that forest fires are caused by laser weapons, known as the “DEW theory” for “Directed Energy Weapon”, is not new.

According to Mick West, an American journalist specialising in fact-checking, it “emerged in the early 2000s, particularly after the attacks of September 11, 2001”.

At the time, certain conspiracy theories claimed – wrongly – that the collapse of the Twin Towers had been caused by laser weapons. The same theory was later applied to forest fires.



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Animals that are too cute to be true: how to detect AI-generated images

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Whether it is a baby sloth hanging onto someone’s thumb, a tiny colourful peacock or baby penguins taking a selfie, these insanely cute images of animals have been shared thousands of times on social media in recent months by people unable to resist. But it turns out that all three of these images were generated by AI. We’ve written up a list of tips so that you won’t be duped just because something is wildly cute.

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What do these three images have in common? They’ve all gone viral since early May, for one. They also all feature tiny, unbelievably cute animals. 

This image of a baby sloth cupped in someone’s hand, for example, garnered more than 265,000 views and was shared more than 3,000 times on Twitter.

The image of this cute baby sloth was actually generated using artificial intelligence. © Twitter

On Instagram, a photo of a tiny baby peacock has garnered more than 5,800 “likes” since April 28, when it was posted by an account called “Beautiful nature”.

This teeny, tiny peacock is a fake image generated by artificial intelligence – if you couldn’t tell.
This teeny, tiny peacock is a fake image generated by artificial intelligence – if you couldn’t tell. © Instagram / Birdlovers_

However, the image that got the most engagement online is one of baby penguins seemingly taking a selfie. Since it was posted on July 7, it has garnered more than 46 million views on Twitter.

This image of baby penguins garnered more than 40 million views … turns out, it was generated by artificial intelligence.
This image of baby penguins garnered more than 40 million views … turns out, it was generated by artificial intelligence. © Twitter / @shouldhaveanima

These three images have more in common than just being cute – they were all generated by artificial intelligence. That means these aren’t real photos, which obviously means that these animals aren’t real either. 

How plain old observation is often your best tool for spotting fakes 

Janne Ahlberg – founder of the site Hoaxeye, which identifies fake images circulating on social media – took a look at these three images. 

Ahlberg told our team that the easiest way to spot an image generated by artificial intelligence is to look for “artifacts” or issues with the digital image. Essentially, the tools that generate images using artificial intelligence don’t always get it right and often leave behind errors.

Take a look at the baby sloth picture, for instance. There are two errors that stand out right away. First of all, the thumbnail has an issue – it looks like it has been cut in two. There is also something going on with the bottom left of the image. 

Also, there’s a factual error. Sloths only have two or three fingers, which isn’t the case with the baby animal in this picture. 

As you can see, the thumbnail looks a bit dodgy – one of our first clues that this might have been generated using artificial intelligence.
As you can see, the thumbnail looks a bit dodgy – one of our first clues that this might have been generated using artificial intelligence. © Observers

Something else gives away the image of the tiny peacock. There are two points of focus in the image – the little bird’s head and its feet. The rest of the image is blurry. It’s not possible for a real photo to have two different focus points. 

And, again, there is also a factual error here, too: baby peacocks are actually usually brown or gray and, to be honest, pretty ungainly looking. It takes them a few years to develop their colourful feathers. 

There are two points of focus in this image – the peacock’s head and its feet – while the rest of the image is blurry. A photograph can’t actually have two points of focus.
There are two points of focus in this image – the peacock’s head and its feet – while the rest of the image is blurry. A photograph can’t actually have two points of focus. © Observers

As for the little penguins, if you take a closer look, you’ll see that something isn’t quite right with one of the birds in the background – it seems to be made up of two images that aren’t perfectly aligned. This is a sign that the artificial intelligence wasn’t able to generate this part of the image. 

You can see an error with one of the penguins in the background – the image of its head isn’t aligned.
You can see an error with one of the penguins in the background – the image of its head isn’t aligned. © Observers

A tool to help detect fakes – but use with care 

There are several online tools that you can use to detect images generated by artificial intelligence. Our favorite as of July 2023 is Hive Moderation. If you upload an image to the site, it will give you a percentage indicating how likely it is that the image was generated by artificial intelligence. 

We ran these three photos through Hive Moderation, which told us that there was between a 99.6 percent and 99.9 percent likelihood that the images were generated by artificial intelligence. Good call, HiveMod.

A tool called Hive Moderation concluded that these three images were generated by artificial intelligence.
A tool called Hive Moderation concluded that these three images were generated by artificial intelligence. © Hive Moderation / Observers

The site claims that it is 99 percent accurate in analysing if images are AI-generated or not. However, like any algorithm, this tool learns from the images fed into it and, thus, can be easily fooled. 

A number of social media users, many of whom were based in Japan, proved they were able to fool the tool. It gave very different responses if the images were modified even in a minor way. Thus, it can’t be considered a foolproof tool for analysis.

The photo on the upper left is real but has been modified with the app FaceApp. Hive Moderation, however, concluded that it was generated by artificial intelligence. The same photo, on the bottom right, has been slightly altered in a different way and, bizarrely, the tool no longer says it was generated by artificial intelligence.
The photo on the upper left is real but has been modified with the app FaceApp. Hive Moderation, however, concluded that it was generated by artificial intelligence. The same photo, on the bottom right, has been slightly altered in a different way and, bizarrely, the tool no longer says it was generated by artificial intelligence. © ken5bt

So why are people sharing fake cute animal images?

Everyone on the internet – or nearly everyone – seems to love a good animal photo. But that doesn’t explain why people are trying to pass off images of cute animals generated by AI as the real deal.

Our team asked expert Janne Alhberg of the site HoaxEye: 

I guess that, first of all, these cute animals have gotten popular simply because people seem to like them – and because they work, a lot of people copy the technique. 

The accounts that share AI-generated images – trying to pass them off as real – have different goals. But a lot of them just want to get a lot of likes and followers. 

Some accounts are more financially motivated. Some of the accounts are hoping to be sold off once they have a lot of followers [editor’s note: on the black market, people will pay hundreds of dollars to get thousands of followers].

This is a screengrab of a website where it is possible to buy several thousand followers for about a hundred dollars. Our team blurred out the names of the accounts.
This is a screengrab of a website where it is possible to buy several thousand followers for about a hundred dollars. Our team blurred out the names of the accounts. © Observers

Back in January 2018, we interviewed Ahlberg for another article (see below). Back then, we asked her why so many accounts were trying to pass off fake videos of incredible natural phenomena as real. In 2023, the subject might be different, but the idea remains the same.  

For more on this topicDebunked: When amazing nature shots are a bit too good to be true



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No, Elijah Wood did not address Volodymyr Zelensky with an offer to cure his alleged addictions

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A video has been circulating online which allegedly shows “Lord of the Rings” actor Elijah Wood giving the Ukrainian president advice on how to tackle his alleged drug and alcohol addictions. He can be seen recording himself and talking to a so-called “Vladimir”. However, the video has been heavily edited and his agent has confirmed it was not published by the actor.

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If you only have a minute:

  • A video has been shared online that allegedly shows “Lord of the Rings” star Elijah Wood urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to seek treatment for drug and alcohol use.

  • However, the video was edited using a voice recording from an unknown source in which Elijah Wood can be heard speaking to a man named “Vladimir”.

  • Elijah Wood’s agent has confirmed that the actor does not have a public Instagram account and that he did not post the video.

  • The video has a QR code on it that sends users to a fake Netflix series criticising the International Olympic Committee.

The fact-check in detail:

At the beginning of the video, the actor can be heard saying “Vladimir, hi, it’s Elijah! I hope you’re well and in good health.” He then goes on to say: “you have serious problems with drugs and alcohol. I hope you’re taking care of yourself. We know people who can help you.” The video has the graphics of an Instagram story. It has been seen more than 2 million times on Twitter in English and more than 10,000 times in French. 

Several users who shared the video claim that the actor is addressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with an offer to cure his alleged drug and alcohol addictions. Others added that the Instagram account in question has been closed by Meta, the company that owns the social network. This post was also shared on various Russian-speaking Telegram accounts, such as this one, where it has racked up more than 760,000 views.


A number of Russian-language media outlets, such as Tsargrad.tv and 5tv.ru, referred to the video, but they did not identify the source.

Pro-Russian accounts regularly accuse Volodymyr Zelensky of being a drug and alcohol addict, and often manipulate videos to illustrate these claims. 

An edited video from a fake Instagram account

Several visual clues suggest that the video was not posted to Instagram and that it was edited.

First, the actor makes no explicit mention of Volodymyr Zelensky or the situation in Ukraine. He addresses the video to “Vladimir”, as opposed to “Volodymyr”. The video is also heavily edited to cut out several sentences and obscure the exact context.

The video features three other elements that enabled us to debunk it: the logo of American media outlet TMZ, the tag “@zelenskiy_official” and a link to the website www.hazeldenbettyford.org, which helps people who suffer from substance abuse.

However, the video does not appear on any of TMZ’s social networks and their logo looks different on their other videos. Our editorial team contacted TMZ, which responded that “This is clearly something that someone posted on social networks and that has nothing to do with TMZ. We have nothing to do with this video.”

Elijah Wood does not have an official, public Instagram account and in March 2023 said that he used a private account. However, the account that the video was published from looks like a verified account with over 1.5 million followers. We took a freeze-frame of the video, which shows the full name of the account (despite being hidden by the TMZ logo): elijah.wood.kingring.

The account name “elijah.wood.kingring” can be seen when freezing the fake Instagram story. © Observers

The elijah.wood.kingring account does exist on Instagram, but it has no followers and only follows three accounts, including that of Volodymyr Zelensky.

elijah.wood.kingring's instagram account in July 2023
elijah.wood.kingring’s instagram account in July 2023 © Instagram/ @elijah.wood.kingring

The FRANCE 24 Observers team contacted JoAnne Colonna, Elijah Wood’s agent, who explained that “Elijah does not have an Instagram account. He is going to make a comment on his Twitter account about this video.” The tweet in question had not been published at the time of writing, but we will include it once it becomes available. 

The origin of the video has not been disclosed by Elijah Wood or his team. Some Twitter users claim that it was made using Cameo, a site where you can buy a video message recorded by Elijah Wood for $340. We have not been able to verify this suggestion. 

Furthermore, in February 2022, just after Russia invaded Ukraine, the actor publicly expressed his support for Kyiv, and he has never publicly criticised the Ukrainian president.

A disguised operation for a fake series?

Another clue which proves that the video is fake is the QR code on “Elijah Wood’s” fake Instagram account which sends users from the photos and story there to a so-called “Olympics has fallen” series.

The poster for this alleged series also features American actor Tom Cruise, president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, sports director of the same committee Kit McConnell, and former president of the International Amateur Boxing Association Wu Ching-Kuo.

Screenshot of the Telegram account
Screenshot of the Telegram account “Olympics has fallen” on July 25, 2023. © Telegram

The QR code sends users to a Telegram account that was created at the beginning of July and shows four episodes of the series. The first episode even includes the Netflix logo. In it, Tom Cruise appears onscreen, greets viewers, and then explains, off camera, what the aim of the series is: to reveal to the world the behind-the-scenes workings of the International Olympic Committee, described as a “venal committee that has been destroying the Olympic spirit of sport for years”.

However, the series does not exist; Tom Cruise never directed it. There has been no reference to the film anywhere in the news in recent weeks. The actor has not promoted it on his verified networks, and the only references to the series can be found on Telegram accounts that voice support for Russia.

The Telegram account “Olympics has fallen” has also posted fake messages supposedly written by several American celebrities, including Jared Leto, Miley Cyrus and Mike Tyson, who are said to have congratulated Tom Cruise on his series. 

Three fake stories from American stars were shared to make it look like they were congratulating Tom Cruise on this fake series.
Three fake stories from American stars were shared to make it look like they were congratulating Tom Cruise on this fake series. © Observers

The Telegram channel, which is followed by around 2,500 people, hasn’t had a huge impact, with the most viewed episode garnering a maximum of 90,000 views.



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No, this video does not show the Wagner Group ‘surrendering’ in Sudan

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Since the start of the war in Sudan between government troops and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the role of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said to have links to the paramilitary forces, has remained unclear. Against this backdrop, social media users shared a video which they claimed shows Wagner soldiers surrendering to the Sudanese army. But the video was actually filmed during the evacuation of Russian embassy staff from Sudan by regular Russian troops at the start of the conflict in the spring of 2023.

Issued on:

5 min

If you only have a minute:

  • A video of a military convoy is being shared with captions suggesting the Wagner militia in Sudan has “surrendered” to the Sudanese armed forces.
  • We were able to geolocate the video to Khartoum, Sudan.
  • Our team compared it with images taken during the evacuation of Russian diplomats from Sudan in May. We determined that one of the vehicles in the viral video is the same as one of the vehicles used during the evacuation, which allows us to conclude that the video was filmed during the evacuation of diplomatic staff from the Russian embassy on May 2nd, 2023.
  • The Wagner Group is said to have links to General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, whose RSF forces have been fighting the government since April.

The fact-check in detail:

A video was posted on Twitter on July 16 (archive here) with a caption claiming it shows soldiers employed by the paramilitary Wagner Group, dedicated to defending Russia’s foreign interests, talking with government forces in Sudan. 

A man in uniform can be seen taking a video of himself next to a man speaking Russian on the phone.

Behind them is a white car, followed by at least four military vehicles marked with a “Z”, a symbol painted on Russian military equipment involved in the war in Ukraine. The video garnered more than 86,000 views.

A July 16 tweet purporting to show Wagner mercenaries in Sudan. © Observateurs Capture d’écran Twitter @khalidalbaih

 

Posts shared the same day in English and Arabic on Facebook claimed that the video showed Wagner mercenaries surrendering to Sudanese troops. They garnered more than 11,000 views.

Video posted on Facebook on July 16, allegedly showing the Wagner group surrendering to Sudanese armed forces.
Video posted on Facebook on July 16, allegedly showing the Wagner group surrendering to Sudanese armed forces. © Observateurs Capture d’écran Twitter

Wagner is said to have links with the RSF of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, known as Hemedti. But since the RSF have been fighting the regular Sudanese army, Wagner’s role and position is unclear in Sudan. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, who moved the group’s base to Belarus after a short-lived rebellion against Russian president Vladimir Putin in June, has said there are no Wagner personnel on the ground in Sudan.

A video taken in Khartoum

Some elements of the video raise doubts. The letter “Z” is painted on the vehicles. This symbol is often used by the regular Russian army since the start of the war in Ukraine, but rarely by Wagner’s mercenaries in Africa.

Sam Doak, a journalist at the British fact-checking outlet Logically Facts, was able to identify the location where the video was taken.


In the footage, a blue petrol station can be seen in the background. If you search for petrol stations in Sudan, you can see that the brand Oil Libya matches this colour. 

By searching for the petrol station in Khartoum, the city where the scene could have been filmed according to comments from Twitter users, we can find the exact location where the video was taken.

This is a petrol station in Khartoum North. Although there is no street-level view of the street on Google Maps, the aerial view shows the petrol station, the billboard and the large white building behind the station.

The images at the left are stills from the viral video. The image on the right shows the Google Maps aerial view of the site. You can see the petrol station (outlined in purple), the advertising hoarding (outlined in green), the small brown building (outlined in orange), and the large white building (outlined in pink) behind the station.
The images at the left are stills from the viral video. The image on the right shows the Google Maps aerial view of the site. You can see the petrol station (outlined in purple), the advertising hoarding (outlined in green), the small brown building (outlined in orange), and the large white building (outlined in pink) behind the station. © Les Observateurs Google Maps

 

Video shows Russian embassy staff being evacuated in May 

Was this video taken recently? In the comments, people suggested that the video could have been filmed when the Russian army evacuated civilians from Sudan at the start of the fighting.

Our team searched for images on the Telegram channel of the Russian embassy in Sudan, and found a May 2 image of the white van that appears on the viral video. It is exactly the same white Toyota HiAce, with the same green and brown luggage mounted on the roof and wrapped in netting, alongside a Russian flag.

This photo was taken during the evacuation of a part of the Russian embassy staff on the morning of May, 2nd 2023, according to the Russian authorities. 

A search for other images of the evacuation shows a photo of a military vehicle belonging to the Russian military convoy. It was shared by a pro-Russian account at the time of the evacuation. 

This vehicle looks very similar to another car seen in the viral video. The number plate is similar, albeit with a one-digit difference, and both vehicles have luggage and a Russian flag on the roof.

The image at the left is a still taken from the viral video. The image on the right was published on the Telegram channel of the Russian embassy in Sudan. You can see the same white Toyota HiAce van, with the same luggage on the roof and the Russian flag.
The image at the left is a still taken from the viral video. The image on the right was published on the Telegram channel of the Russian embassy in Sudan. You can see the same white Toyota HiAce van, with the same luggage on the roof and the Russian flag. © Observateurs

A press release issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the embassy staff were evacuated on May 2 in a convoy that took them to the Al-Shahid Mukhtar air base in the town of Omdurman, near Khartoum, before flying to Moscow.

Amateur videos appear to show the convoy en route.

More than 200 people, including Russian embassy staff, representatives of the Ministry of Defence, Russian citizens and citizens of other countries allied with Russia were reportedly evacuated on the same day by the Russian armed forces.

 

Wagner’s role in Sudan still unclear

The Wagner Group forged a partnership in 2018 with then-President Omar al-Bashir to illegally exploit the country’s gold resources, as an investigation by an international consortium of journalists has documented. 

At the same time, the Russian militia developed relations with General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti, and his paramilitary group RSF. Allies of al-Bashir before his ouster in 2019, Daglo and his RSF joined the rebellion against him and later took up arms against government forces in April 2023.

An investigation by the open-source investigative organisation All Eyes on Wagner and CNN in April 2023 suggests that Wagner supplied missiles to the RSF to support their fight against the Sudanese army. 

All Eyes on Wagner has also developed an interactive map listing the Russian militia’s activities and human rights abuses around the world.



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Riots in France: Misinformation spread to discredit protesters, French immigration policies

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The riots across France sparked by the death of Nahel, a teenager killed by a police officer during a traffic stop on June 27, garnered significant international attention. However, the incident also led to a surge of false information on social media platforms. Many of these misleading posts were shared by far-right, anti-migrant users, who circulated videos taken out of context to discredit the protesters, cultural minorities in France, and French immigration policies.

Issued on: Modified:

If you only have a minute

  • In the wake of the clashes caused by 17-year-old Nahel’s death at the hands of police, a number of photos and videos have been taken out of context to target the rioters and criticise French immigration policies.

  • English-speaking anti-migrant accounts have been sharing images of “armed rioters” or burned cars … but they were filmed long before the current protests, and sometimes not even in France. 

  • Hindu nationalist accounts, which often spread misinformation targeting the Muslim community, shared a video claiming to show the ongoing unrest, but it was actually taken from a movie. They also shared another video claiming to show a residential building on fire … but it was not impacted by the riots. 

  • A pro-Russian account shared a video claiming that snipers have been seen in Paris. The video is old.

  • And misinformation has also been spreading in French: anti-migrant accounts have shared manipulated videos to criticise French migration policies. One of them comes from a challenge on TikTok while another was taken in the United States. 

Fake videos shared en masse by far-right English-language accounts

Paul Golding, leader of Britain First, a far-right British party, shared a video on July 2 of a group of masked and armed men. He described the group as “armed rioters show[ing] off their arsenal of weapons in France”. The post has been viewed more than a million times.

Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show young armed rioters. © Observers

To find out where this video really came from, we did a quick reverse image search with the InVid WeVerify extension (click here to find out how). We found an article in the French daily Le Parisien, which explains that armed men gathered in Dijon to defend their neighbourhood after a weekend of clashes with members of the Chechen community in June 2020. 

At the time, Chechens had conducted a punitive expedition to avenge a young man from their community who had allegedly been attacked a few days earlier.


So it had nothing to do with the recent riots.

Another account, which has shared anti-migrant sentiments before, posted a video on July 2 showing a dozen cars aflame in what appears to be a large parking lot or car dealership. The caption reads: “Marseille: Rioters set fire to a parking lot filled with brand new vehicles.” The tweet has more than 130,000 views. 

Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show cars set on fire during the riots in France.
Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show cars set on fire during the riots in France. © Observers

However, when we searched the keywords “parking lot” and “burnt cars”, we found an article from The Guardian with photos of the same blaze. The fire broke out last April in an auction lot in Perth, Australia, destroying more than 60 vehicles. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Hindu nationalists relay false information targeting Muslims

A video posted on July 1 shows cars falling from the top of a parking garage, crashing into other vehicles in the street and exploding from the impact.

The caption, in Hindi, on the video reads, “France elected a secular liberal Macron as president rather than a nationalist woman, see the result.” The user who shared the video regularly contributes anti-Muslim articles in the Indian media. 

The same video was also published by another account sharing posts in Hindi. 

Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show cars being pushed from a car park during the riots in France.
Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show cars being pushed from a car park during the riots in France. © Observers

Here again, we did a keyword search on Google to find the source of the image, typing “cars falling from parking garage”. The video was actually filmed in Cleveland, Ohio. It shows the filming of the eighth film in the “Fast and Furious” franchise, released in 2017. You can watch the scene in the movie here. 

Another Indian account, which regularly shares posts targeting Muslims, posted a video of a residential building supposedly set on fire by rioters in France. An imposing building can be seen in the dark with red smoke billowing from it. “Extremists have set fire to a residential building in the town of Grigny,” reads the caption. The post has nearly 50,000 views.

We were unable to find the source of this video. However, we did find a reaction to this video from the prefecture of Essonne, the department where Grigny is located. The prefecture explains: “It was a vehicle fire that spread to two trees. The fire was put out by the Sdis 91 [departmental fire and rescue service] and the area was secured by the national police force. The nearby building was not affected in any way.”

Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show a building burnt down by rioters in France.
Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show a building burnt down by rioters in France. © Observers

Misinformation about riots shared by French anti-migrant accounts

On July 2, a Twitter account claiming to support French far-right politician Éric Zemmour posted a video of a Portuguese-speaking woman hastily trying to fill her shopping trolley in a supermarket. The author commented: “What do you want them to tell their kids, they do the same!”, suggesting that the mothers of rioters regularly steal from shops.

Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show a woman stealing from a supermarket.
Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show a woman stealing from a supermarket. © Observers

Using the username displayed in the video, you can find the original video on a Brazilian influencer’s TikTok channel.

The video actually shows a timed challenge in Brazil, the aim of which is to do your shopping as quickly as possible. 

Another Twitter user that regularly posts anti-migrant content also claimed that a Louis Vuitton shop was looted by rioters. The video, posted on June 30 and viewed more than 340,000 times, shows a group of young people smashing windows and breaking into a Louis Vuitton shop.

Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show rioters looting a Louis Vuitton shop in Paris.
Twitter post from July 2 purporting to show rioters looting a Louis Vuitton shop in Paris. © Observers

A search for “Louis Vuitton” and “looting” turns up the original video. It was filmed in Portland, in the United States, during protests following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.

However, Louis Vuitton shops have indeed been targeted by rioters in France, as reported by Europe1 and Actu.fr.

A pro-Russian account shares a video taken out of context

Another video posted on Twitter, which has more than 900,000 views, shows a man on a roof, clearly aiming his rifle at a van. The user, @Sprinter99880, claims that this is a sniper on the rooftops of Paris. The video was also shared by accounts claiming that “Muslim rioters” had stolen “rifles from police vans”.

Twitter post from June 30 purporting to show a sniper on the rooftops of Paris during the riots.
Twitter post from June 30 purporting to show a sniper on the rooftops of Paris during the riots. © Observers

While the FRANCE 24 Observers team was unable to identify the context in which the footage was shot, we did find the same video on Twitter dating back to March 2022, more than a year before the riots began.

And we’ve debunked posts shared by @Sprinter99880 before, like here. The Twitter account has previously shared content criticising cultural diversity in France. 

France has seen riots and looting since 17-year-old Nahel M. was killed by a police officer during a traffic stop on June 27 in Nanterre, just outside Paris. Nahel’s death rekindled long-standing accusations of systemic racism among security forces. Hundreds of arrests have been made in the protests. On July 4, tensions seemed to be dwindling, one week after Nahel was killed.



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Parties in Kyiv nightclubs in the midst of war? Watch out for these misleading images

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Issued on:

A video compilation that has been circulating since May 3 claims to show that – despite the war – the party is in full swing in Kyiv’s nightclubs, taking advantage of foreign donations to Ukraine’s war effort. Most of these images date from before the war, however, and some of the establishments where they were filmed have been closed since the conflict began in February 2022.

If you only have a minute

  • Several posts, including one with a video viewed more than 8 million times, claim to show current scenes of the nightlife in Kyiv, apparently showing that the population of Ukraine is using donations from the West to throw these parties despite the war.
  • The footage in the video, however, comes from scenes filmed in 2021, or in establishments that have been closed since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
  • Nightlife has indeed resumed in Kyiv over the past few months after the curfew in the city was extended to midnight in March.
  • However, the venues shown in these videos say they have not received any donations, instead organising parties to donate their profits to the Ukrainian army. 

The fact-check, in detail

“Meanwhile in Kyiv nightclubs … Please donate more money!” says the Twitter account @RadioGenova, which often shares pro-Russian disinformation, above a video compilation showing Ukrainians partying in nightclubs.

“So they’ve gotten donations so that they can go to the club,” says another user (in French) who shared the video, video 8.6 million times since it was published on May 3. Others had similar reactions, arguing that foreign aid shouldn’t be used to fund parties in Ukraine.

RadioGenova post with 8.6 million views as of May 10, 2023. Click on the image to see the archived publication. © Twitter / RadioGenova

Clues show us two clips are from 2021

The video is a compilation of four different clips that were taken from the TikTok account @kievnight, which shared videos of parties at bars and nightclubs across the Ukrainian capital.

The first 27 seconds of the video, for example, were filmed at a bar and nightclub called the Fifty Club. We found the location using the full video published on December 23, 2022 on TikTok. The poster claims in a comment that the video was filmed in 2021.

Above: the date that the original video was posted on TikTok. Below: a comment from @kievnight claiming that the video was taken in 2021.
Above: the date that the original video was posted on TikTok. Below: a comment from @kievnight claiming that the video was taken in 2021. © TikTok / kievnight

To verify these claims, the FRANCE 24 Observers team took a closer look at the Fifty Club’s posts on social media. 

The same scene was filmed and posted the evening of November 19, 2021. Videos show the same man with a microphone wearing a pink t-shirt – the Ukrainian artist Dred, who was performing that day. The same yellow decorations are also visible on the wall.

On the left, the video that appeared in the
On the left, the video that appeared in the “RadioGenova” post claiming to show a recent party in Kyiv. On the right, a screenshot of the same party from November 19, 2021 published in the Instagram stories of the Fifty Club, where you can recognize the same man on the microphone, the Ukrainian artist Dred. © Observers

The same goes for the clip visible at the end of the video compilation, between 1:22 and 1:33. We see people dancing in a bar and a television screen that says “Boho”.

This video was published on December 4, 2021 by the @kievnight TikTok account, two and a half months before the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

This scene was filmed in the bar and restaurant
This scene was filmed in the bar and restaurant “Boho”, which appears on the screen in this image, and was published on December 4, 2021. © TikTok / @kievnight

The FRANCE 24 Observers team reached out to the restaurant, which claims that the video is even older than that, explaining that much of the decor visible in the video has been replaced over the past three years. They provided us with photos to support this, including one that shows a fridge behind the young woman dancing in the middle of the image above.

Photo of the Boho restaurant and karaoke bar provided to the FRANCE 24 Observers team by the venue's marketing team on May 8, 2023. The small refrigerator in front of the television screen is not the same as that of the 2021 video. The restaurant told us it changed these refrigerators at least three years ago.
Photo of the Boho restaurant and karaoke bar provided to the FRANCE 24 Observers team by the venue’s marketing team on May 8, 2023. The small refrigerator in front of the television screen is not the same as that of the 2021 video. The restaurant told us it changed these refrigerators at least three years ago. © Boho Karaoké Safari

Videos from establishments that have been closed for months

So what about the last two clips in the video, appearing between 0:27 and 1:22? 

These two videos can also be found on the @kievnight TikTok account, with the hashtag #TBT, or Throwback Thursday, used to share old posts.

The #TBT in this post refers to
The #TBT in this post refers to “Throwback Thursday”, used on social networks to post old videos or photos of fond memories. © TikTok / kievnight

The TikTok account did not respond to our request for comment about these two clips. Howver, we were able to find out where these videos were filmed. 

The first one (appearing from 0:27-0:57) shows a bar called Sparks, which has a recognisable red ceiling as seen in several videos on its social media. We also noticed the same speaker hanging on the wall (in blue below).

However, Sparks has been inactive on social media since January 2022. While we were unable to reach the establishment, others that we spoke to for this article told us that it has been closed since the start of the war.

On the left, video posted by @RadioGenova showing a grid ceiling with red lights as well as a speaker outlined in blue. On the right, screenshot of an Instagram post by Sparks, which features the same ceiling and speaker.
On the left, video posted by @RadioGenova showing a grid ceiling with red lights as well as a speaker outlined in blue. On the right, screenshot of an Instagram post by Sparks, which features the same ceiling and speaker. © Instagram / SparksClub

The final clip (from 0:57 to 1:22) was filmed at Hangover, as indicated by outdoor furniture visible in photos online. The establishment is seasonal, open only between June and August each year. 

It closed its door at the end of summer 2022, as explained in its posts online, but claims to remain open for private events. The exact date of this video is difficult to ascertain, but the clothes of the people in the video suggest it was filmed in the summer of 2022 at the latest.

On the left and in the centre, screenshots of the video broadcast by Radio Genova. On the right, picture of the Hangover bar where you can see the same furniture (in blue), the same tree (in red), and the flowerbed on the right (in green).
On the left and in the centre, screenshots of the video broadcast by Radio Genova. On the right, picture of the Hangover bar where you can see the same furniture (in blue), the same tree (in red), and the flowerbed on the right (in green). © Observers

Is nightlife totally at a standstill in Kyiv?

Even if these videos are old or show currently closed establishments, that doesn’t mean that nightlife has completely stopped in the Ukrainian capital during the war. 

On March 17, the head of Kyiv’s city administration Serhiy Popko, extended the citywide curfew from 11pm to midnight. Since then, most bars and nightclubs close down around 10 or 10:30pm in order to allow their employees the time to get home, according to the Guardian.

The British media also reported that “a select number of hotels and a handful of secret bars in Kyiv have continued to operate well into the night, hosting foreign fighters, expats and a few Ukrainians, though mostly women”, even before the curfew was extended.

Employees of the Fifty Club and Boho told the FRANCE 24 Observers team that they remain open. The Fifty Club is open “only on Saturdays, from 4pm to 11pm”, while Boho is open “every day from 12pm to 11pm”, adding that there aren’t parties every day.

Are nightclubs in Ukraine using foreign aid funds?

Both of these venues told us they haven’t received any external donations since the start of the war. On the contrary, they said they regularly organise charity events. Boho told us they’ve held three such events since January 2023, collecting “more than one million hryvnias in donations [24,000 euros]” which they’ve sent to the Ukrainian army. 

Jay Fokin, owner of the Fifty Club, told us more:

We never asked for any donations to keep the business going. We started making charity events and concerts to raise some money for the army, but this was working well only in the first month of war. Now, people have less money and savings, and most of them have their own vision on how to send donations and for what.

For me now, it is not about making money, but mainly to save the team and business. When you have 300+ people involved in your projects, you don’t actually have too many options. Plus, you can’t make people drink and spend money in the evening the same as it was at night.

These people who comment and share this video, they’ve never been to Kyiv. They are not living everyday with sirens and missile strikes and they do not understand how tired people are emotionally. In my opinion, if the entertainment sector was working properly, it would be better for the people who are living under stress everyday.

The FRANCE 24 Observers team was unable to find any examples in the Ukrainian press or social media of restaurants or nightclubs claiming they’ve received international donations or funding. 



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No, this isn’t a recent video of Bashar al-Assad walking freely through Damascus

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A video said to show Syrian President Bashar al-Assad walking without escort through a joyous crowd in Damascus has been circulating online since April 25. However, this is an old video and one that actually shows the president during an orchestrated event in a secure location.

If you only have a minute

  • A video said to show Syrian President Bashar al-Assad interacting with a seemingly joyous public in Damascus has been circulating online since April 25. 
  • Those who share this video claim that it is proof of Assad’s popularity in Syria. Some of them have even claimed he is more popular amongst his people than Western leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron.
  • Turns out, this video was filmed back in 2017. By looking at its coordinates, we discovered that it was filmed in a secure location in Damascus during an official event. 

The fact check, in detail 

The footage that has been circulating on Twitter of late shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, smiling, shaking the hands of passersby and posing for pictures. At the start of the video, he is outside, before entering a building filled with stands selling a variety of products. “Syrian president Bashar Alassad casually walking around without guards,” reads one caption on the video, which has the TikTok logo. 

“Don’t believe anything they tell you about Syria, it’s all lies!” reads the caption on a post featuring the video shared on April 25 by an account that regularly posts pro-Russian propaganda. It has since garnered more than 120,000 views. The posts claimed that this video was proof of the Syrian leader’s popularity. Some of the posts compared this to the dismal ratings of some Western leaders. 

On May 2, this far-right account shared the Assad video alongside one showing a crowd throwing objects at Emmanuel Macron.

This far-right account shared the Assad video alongside one showing a crowd throwing objects at Emmanuel Macron on May 2, claiming that Assad is more popular in Syria than Macron is in France. © Twitter/@MyLordBebo

A number of French-language accounts that regularly share content critical of Macron also picked up this post. Here are two examples from May 2 and May 5.

The French-language accounts that shared this video also compared the Syrian dictator to the French president.
The French-language accounts that shared this video also compared the Syrian dictator to the French president. © Observers

A 2017 video made by Assad’s team 

To find out more about the video in question, we began by looking into the TikTok handle that appears on the video.

Turns out, this account is a propaganda account that often shares videos promoting the Syrian president and videos that support the Syrian government’s perspective.

This TikTok account, which has been inactive since February, previously shared a lot of propaganda videos created by Syrian government. The videos are in both English and Arabic.
This TikTok account, which has been inactive since February, previously shared a lot of propaganda videos created by Syrian government. The videos are in both English and Arabic. © TikTok/m.syria.alassad

However, the video that has been circulating online isn’t recent: it was posted on this TikTok account on July 5, 2022.

The video that has been circulating on Twitter does, indeed, appear on this account. However, the video is actually from 2022.
The video that has been circulating on Twitter does, indeed, appear on this account. However, the video is actually from 2022. © TikTok/m.syria.alassad

But even though the TikTok account posted this video in 2022, it turns out that the actual event took place much earlier. 

We used the tool InVid WeVerify (check out how by clicking here) to find previous instances of the video posted online, without the TikTok logo and caption.  

An official Twitter account of the Syrian Office of the President tweeted the video in June 2017, explaining that the video shows Assad shopping at a “‘Made in Syria’ festival”. The video also appeared in a local news article, shared on June 8, 2017.

There are also other images of this event, like the ones that appear in this article by the Iranian press agency Tasnim. The article explains that the event took place at al-Jalaa Hall in the Damascus neighbourhood of Mezzeh. 

A controlled visit to a secure event 

Using this information, we were able to find the coordinates of the site visible in the video. If you type “صالة الجلاء” (al-Jalaa Hall in Arabic) into Google Maps, then you’ll find a result that is really in the Mezzeh neighbourhood. 

There is an al-Jalaa Hall in the Mezzeh neighborhood. It’s near a stadium with the same name.
There is an al-Jalaa Hall in the Mezzeh neighborhood. It’s near a stadium with the same name. © Observers

Online, there are 360° images of the hall, which seems to often be used for events. These photos indeed show the location where the Assad video was filmed. 

Thanks to the photos available on Google Maps, we were able to determine that the video was, indeed, filmed in al-Jalaa Hall. In both these pictures and the video, the ceiling is painted with Syrian colors, the green paint on the walls is the same and there is a giant portrait of Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad.
Thanks to the photos available on Google Maps, we were able to determine that the video was, indeed, filmed in al-Jalaa Hall. In both these pictures and the video, the ceiling is painted with Syrian colors, the green paint on the walls is the same and there is a giant portrait of Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad. © Observers

In the outside shots, the Syrian president walks under a sign for the computer engineering department at Arab International University. 

This sign features the logo for Arab International University, a private Syrian university. It also mentions the computer engineering department.
This sign features the logo for Arab International University, a private Syrian university. It also mentions the computer engineering department. © Observers

Turns out, this building is located right behind al-Jalaa Hall, which means that the outside shots were filmed right by the hall, likely during the same visit.

On Google Maps, you can see that the AIU computer engineering department (in white) adjoins al-Jalaa hall (in pink). The entire video was filmed in the same spot.
On Google Maps, you can see that the AIU computer engineering department (in white) adjoins al-Jalaa hall (in pink). The entire video was filmed in the same spot. © Observers

So this video doesn’t actually show Assad wandering in the streets of Damascus. It was filmed at an official event organised by the Damascus Chamber of Industry, according to this article published in the local media.

The Syrian president, thus, isn’t in a street but in a university and sports facility that is easy to secure. As you can see from these images on Google Earth, recorded a few weeks after the event, there are only a few entrances to the hall. 

These satellite images taken a few weeks after Assad’s visit to the site show that there are only six entrances to al-Jalaa hall. It would be easy to secure the premises.
These satellite images taken a few weeks after Assad’s visit to the site show that there are only six entrances to al-Jalaa hall. It would be easy to secure the premises. © Observers

Moreover, this area is located in an extremely secure area, home to a number of official buildings, embassies and the military airport. Even the headquarters of the Department of General Intelligence and the Air Force are located in this neighbourhood. The Department of General Intelligence is one of the main security services in the country, known for its brutal methods and systematic use of torture in its detention centres.

Bodyguards in civilian clothes

Thomas Pierret is a senior researcher at CNRS and a Syrian specialist. He says that this would be far from the first time that Assad met with the “public”, who turned out to be carefully selected in a secure location. 

Videos of this type are always a part of his communication strategy, trying to create a narrative that he is close to his people. Before the war, for example, he regularly organised surprise visits to restaurants. During those events, the security was always reinforced with bodyguards at the entrance. And the people were screened ahead of time. On that note, you might notice that there are very few people in this video. 

The captions on the posts featuring this video, however, claim that the Syrian president went out in public without bodyguards. 

However, in the version of the video shared by the office of the president, you can see a man who appears twice and seems to be watching Assad intently.

There is a man acting strangely, who keeps just a few metres behind Assad when he enters al-Jalaa Hall. He seems on edge and keeps his eyes fixed on the president.
There is a man acting strangely, who keeps just a few metres behind Assad when he enters al-Jalaa Hall. He seems on edge and keeps his eyes fixed on the president. © Observers

The man is wearing a distinctive striped polo shirt, with a black collar, which makes it possible to spot him in the version of the video shared by this Syrian site, which includes sequences cut in the version shared by the Office of the President.  

In this longer sequence, you can see that the man continues to follow Assad. While it is impossible to know for sure if he is a bodyguard, his behaviour and his habit of keeping just a few metres from the president at all times makes it likely that he is one. 

In a longer version of the video shared by the Syrian media, you can see a man following Assad during the entire visit. It seems as if there were actually bodyguards at this event.
In a longer version of the video shared by the Syrian media, you can see a man following Assad during the entire visit. It seems as if there were actually bodyguards at this event. © Observers

In conclusion, this video doesn’t show the Syrian president interacting with the general public in the street, as claimed by a number of accounts that shared the video. It was actually filmed during an official event in a secure location where Assad was almost certainly under high protection. 

This video has been circulating amidst a tense political backdrop: Syria is in the process of officially reintegrating the Arab League, after being ousted in 2011 when the Syrian government’s crackdown on a popular movement led to a devastating war. During the conflict, Assad’s regime was condemned for numerous war crimes against both combatants and civilians.



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Are fighting robots being manufactured in the United States? Nope, it’s special effects

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Are there really robots ready to take over the world? The robot who appears in a viral video looks ready to do just that when he does a showy backflip and throws a few punches. A number of posts online claimed that the robot was made by Boston Dynamics, an American robotics company, who were also said to have shared the video online. However, this video actually wasn’t created by the company – it was created by a digital artist, who spoke to our team.

If you only have a minute

  • A video showing a robot “fighting” has garnered more than two million views since it was posted on Twitter on April 29, 2023. 
  • The post claims the robot was made by the American company Boston Dynamics. Many of the people who have been sharing this post are worried about robot takeovers.
  • The video first appeared on a TikTok account made to look like it was the company’s official account – but it wasn’t. 
  • It turns out, the company has absolutely nothing to do with this video – or this robot. It was created by an American digital artist using special effects, as he told our team. 
  • Our team also spoke to two other specialists who showed us how to tell that this video isn’t real. 

The fact check, in detail

The video, showing a robot doing a backflip and then throwing a couple of punches, has been viewed more than 2.5 million times since it was first posted on TikTok on April 29, 2023.  

“Why is Boston Dynamics teaching their robots how to fight?” asks this Twitter user in a post shared nearly 1,500 times. Boston Dynamics is an American robotics company currently owned by the South Korean group Hyundai Motor.

“Politicians are focusing on crypto regulation, meanwhile robots and AI building essential skills to take over the planet. Boston Dynamics robots now have martial arts and fighting skills. What could go wrong…” wrote this Twitter user.

This is a screengrab of a French tweet featuring the video, posted on May 2, 2023. © Observers

Check the account

At first glance, it does look like the video was made by Boston Dynamics. The video posted on Twitter features the logo of the social network TikTok, as well as the user name @boston_dynamics. If you go to that TikTok account, then you’ll see the video, published on April 30, 2023. On TikTok, it has already garnered more than three million views.  

This is a screengrab of the video posted by the “Botsom_Dynamics” account.
This is a screengrab of the video posted by the “Botsom_Dynamics” account. © Observers

The robot actually does look like one of the robots manufactured by the company, although it doesn’t have a “Boston Dynamics” label.

Here, we’ve compared the robot that appears in the recent viral video with the Atlas robot developed by Boston Dynamics as it appeared in a video shared on January 26, 2023 on Twitter by Boston Dynamics.
Here, we’ve compared the robot that appears in the recent viral video with the Atlas robot developed by Boston Dynamics as it appeared in a video shared on January 26, 2023 on Twitter by Boston Dynamics. © Observers/Boston Dynamics

However, it turns out that this TikTok account isn’t official.

The first clue is if you go on the Boston Dynamics website. The site mentions that the company has accounts on YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – but not TikTok. 

Also, if you take a closer look, you’ll see that the account that shared the video is called “Botsom_Dynamics”, not “Boston”.

This is a screengrab of the TikTok account Botsom_Dynamics.
This is a screengrab of the TikTok account Botsom_Dynamics. © Observers

This pretender account has actually reposted a number of real videos shared by Boston Dynamics on its official accounts. This video, posted on the fake TikTok account on April 18, 2023, is actually an excerpt of a longer video shared on Boston Dynamics’ official YouTube page on January 18, 2023.

However, the video of the fighting robot shared on this fake account has never been shared by Boston Dynamics on any of its official channels.

Special effects

The comments section of this video is full of notes left by savvy viewers who realised the video was created using special effects. They are right.

If you type the key words”Boston dynamics 3d animation” into TikTok, then you’ll pull up the account of a man named Wayne Ryan Thompson, an American digital artist. He shared the video that has been circulating online on March 27, 2022. 

The hashtags on the video include “#bostondynamics”, as well as “#cgi” (computer-generated image), “#vfx” (which stands for visual effects or special effects) and “#3D”.

This is a screengrab of the video shared March 27, 2022 on Wayne Ryan Thompson’s TikTok account.
This is a screengrab of the video shared March 27, 2022 on Wayne Ryan Thompson’s TikTok account. Observers/Wayne Ryan Thompson

Our team contacted Wayne Ryan Thompson, who called himself “a passionate, self-taught photographer”.  He told us how he produced this video. 

After filming the backdrop with his phone, he used “motion tracking” to give the impression of camera movement using Cinema 4D software.

Once the motion tracking was completed, I took the robot 3D model (which I had purchased through the 3D model marketplace CGtrader ) and ran it through the free Adobe Motion Capture database called ‘Mixamo’. There I gave the model the fight stance animation.

On Mixamo, you can see a pre-made animation that looks a lot like what the robot does in the video.

Sur Mixamo, on retrouve en effet un mouvement similaire à celui exécuté par le robot de la vidéo.

The artist explains that he then calibrated the animation and the original footage as much as possible to get the closest possible colours and lighting. He also added some lens distortion and dirt effects to make it look more natural.

Imperfections 

There are a few clues in this video that make it easy to see that it was created using special effects says Antoine L., a 3D designer

First of all, the environment doesn’t seem to have any effect on the robot. The path is dry and dusty, but you don’t see any dust when he moves. Similarly, the grass doesn’t move either.

There are also some issues with the shadows. They are really soft, which is common with 3D software.

Also, the way that the camera is moving looks virtual. There isn’t any shaking and the movement is smooth, nearly perfect. It looks like camera animation added after the fact.  

Moreover, the video was filmed outside in the forest, which is really different from the other videos shared by Boston Dynamics, which are all filmed inside. 

Our team also spoke to Pierre Billet, the technical director at a Paris-based company called the Compagnie Générale des Effets Visuels (CGEV, or the General Special Effects Company). He added that the sound on the video was “a disaster” and that there were also issues with “tracking”, which means capturing the movement of a camera during a real filming session in order to recreate it virtually. 

The tracking makes it look like the robot is in the same perspective as the backdrop. When the tracking isn’t perfect, you can see that there is a issue between the backdrop and the special-effects generated robot. At the 8th or 9th second, you can see that the tracking isn’t working and the robot’s foot seems to slide past the ground.

Fake videos of the company already circulated in 2019

This isn’t the first time that Boston Dynamics has had an issue like this. Back in 2019, a video showing a robot participating in military training exercises went viral – and that also freaked out social media users. 

That video was actually created by Corridor Digital, an American company specialised in special effects. That video featured a spoof of the Boston Dynamics logo that said “Bosstown Dynamics”. Our team investigated the origins of that video, as well.

>> Read more on The Observers: Does an armed robot really turn on humans in this viral video?

It’s no coincidence that Wayne Ryan Thompson also mentioned this company in his post.

I was actually inspired to make this particular video after seeing Corridor Crew’s ‘Bosstown Dynamics’ on Youtube (I love their work!). I just wanted to see what I could come up with using only an iPhone and my local computer/software.



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