Conspiracy theorist, you say…
Tag: fake news
Russia-Ukraine war: These videos of the invasion are actually from the Middle East
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, social media has been awash with videos claiming to show the latest developments on the ground.
At least 137 Ukrainians have been killed, including soldiers and civilians, as Moscow launched air strikes across its neighbouring country and Russian troops closed in on the capital Kyiv.
As one of the most serious escalations in violence in recent European history, the war is playing out in real-time on digital platforms.
But while social media has proven to be an invaluable source of information and live updates for many, it has also been a vehicle for spreading fake material.
Much of that has involved viral content purporting to show fighting between Russia and Ukraine, but actually coming from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
Still more fake headlines…
Journalists spread hoax that Proud Boys are sending brigade of fighters to help Russia
Duped by a troll account, US and Australian journalists have spread misinformation that Proud Boys are traveling to eastern Europe to fight for Russia.
“We have lift off! See you when we return Australia. Brothers staying behind look after this great nation. We will return with great gifts for all! #Ukraine #bridewive,” troll account “Proud Boys Southern Tablelands” tweeted Friday. [The account had around 10 followers at the time of the tweet.]
The clip uploaded by the Twitter account is taken from an old video posted by a YouTuber in 2018 flying from Sydney to Hong Kong.
The same troll account also posted: “Proud Boys Southern Tablelands is sending a group of 8 of their best on a flight from Sydney to Poland 1610 tomorrow. We will be rendezvousing with our Brothers from Proud Boys chapters all over the world and be making our way by foot to Ukraine to help Vlad. Pray for us. Uhuru!”
Predictably, the mainstream media took the bait. Before long, the hoax was soon picked up and spread by blue check personalities on Twitter who expressed collective shock and outrage that the right-wing group would attempt such a feat.
Among those who believed a troll account posting flight take-off footage from 2018 was current include Twitter-verified ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News journalist Max Walden and ABC’s RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas.
And he falls for fake news again…
Oops… “Ghost of Kyiv” Turns Out to Be Fake Video Game Footage
All over social media and television, people are talking about him. The mysterious “Ghost of Kyiv”, an ACE fighter pilot that shot down 6 Russian fighter jets over the course of just 24 hours, a practically unattainable stat.
If you were thinking this sounds too good to be true, it most certainly is.
The original video, uploaded to YouTube by Comrade_Corb, now has a disclaimer in both the title and description of the video that it was simulated in DCS World.
Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) World is a free-to-play 2008 video game in which the player can set up different scenarios where enemy combatants engage each other with an assortment of different weapons and vehicles.
While the video originally did not credit the footage to being fake, many fans of the video game were quick to note the familiar graphics and call it out in the comments and on social media.
Despite acknowledging the fake footage, Barstool Host KFC compared the supposed ACE Pilot to Santa Claus and stated that he has personal fantasies that the pilot is real and is killing Russians, even alluding that it might be a woman.
‘Godspeed Samuyil!’ GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger Falls For Meme Identifying Sam Hyde As The ‘Ghost Of Kyiv’
Neocon hack Adam Kinzinger fell for a blatantly photoshopped meme tweet identifying “Samuyil Hyde” as the mysterious “Ghost of Kyiv.”
“The #ghostofkyiv has a name, and he has absolutely OWNED the Russian Airforce,” Kinzinger tweeted on Friday in response to a photoshopped meme with comedian Sam Hyde’s face plastered on a fighter pilot. “Godspeed and more kills, Samuyil!”
Kinzinger quickly deleted the tweet but not before it was archived by ProPublica’s Politwoops.
Game footage being shared as ‘Ukraine videos’
Several videos which have made their way around social media described as footage of the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine have been debunked as clips taken from games.
A report by Bloomberg has revealed that some of the most-viewed videos on Facebook’s gaming channel were clips that were being spread as on-the-ground footage of military action in Ukraine. The videos were reportedly viewed by more than 110,000 people and shared over 25,000 times before they were taken down. Nevertheless, they made their way to other social media platforms, being spread around with titles such as ‘Ukraine fires missiles to intercept Russian aircraft’s artillery fire’ and ‘Intense dogfight in the skies of Ukraine’.
The first video which went viral on Thursday purportedly showed a military plane performing a bombing run while dodging fire from AA defense systems. However, the video turned out to be footage from the ‘Arma III’ military simulator game.
Bloomberg accidentally reports that Russia invaded Ukraine
Bloomberg made a blunder.
The financial news site accidentally reported that Russia had invaded Ukraine Friday afternoon with a headline on its homepage.
“Live: Russia invades Ukraine,” read a jarring headline on Bloomberg’s homepage at around 4 p.m.
It stayed up for about 30 minutes, according to Olga Lautman, a Russian analyst who posted the message on social media.
Users who clicked on the eye-popping story — which comes as Russian troops mass on the Ukrainian border and US officials warn of a potential invasion — were shown an error page.
“I went on the site and saw the breaking news but knew it wasn’t real because I deal with Ukraine and will be one of the first to know,” Lautman told The Post. “It is bizarre and a pretty big mistake to make considering this is a potential large scale invasion and everyone is on edge.”
What Could Go Wrong? Millions of US Kids to Be Taught in School Which News is “Fake”
NewsGuard, a controversial service that ranks news sources read by clients online based on how trustworthy it considers them to be, will soon be available for free to millions of schoolchildren in the US.
The New York-based company signed a licensing agreement with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the second-largest teachers’ union in the country, making the service available to members and their students, the two said this week.
AFT President Randi Weingarten called the deal a game-changer when it comes to helping kids, “particularly our middle, high school and postsecondary students, separate fact from fiction.”
She called NewsGuard “a beacon of clarity to expose the dark depths of the internet and uplift those outlets committed to truth and honesty rather than falsehoods and fabrications.”
The service was launched in 2018, when the position that Big Tech should openly censor information that it deemed undesirable was not as pervasive in the US as it is today. NewsGuard ranks thousands of news sources with a “street light” color code, and puts a nutrition label-like explanation on each one to explain the score.
The service comes in the form of a browser plug-in and costs $2.95/month, except for users of Microsoft Edge, since Microsoft licensed it to be a built-in feature of its browser in 2019.
NewsGuard claims to be apolitical and to apply a rigorous process when assessing the integrity of news outlets. After its launch, skeptics, however, questioned the abundance of people linked to the US government among its advisory board.
One of them, Richard Stengel, who served under Barack Obama as the Department of State’s public affairs chief, said on the record that state propaganda was fine and that all nations subjected their citizens to it.
Hellbound and Down 
You must be logged in to post a comment.