As the Ukraine-Russia crisis continues, more and more misinformation is running rampant online.
Many people have grown accustomed to seeing and sharing content without fact-checking it first, but amid war, that can be deadly.
One claim, shared widely, is that a clip of body bags moving and wriggling shows that Ukraine's death toll is being inflated, with some conspiracy theorists claiming it's proof of "crisis actors" playing roles.
But the video is actually from a climate change protest that has been edited to appear as though it was recorded in the aftermath of Russia's invasion.
CNN reporter, Daniel Dale created a thread debunking the now-viral clip.
"This video is a fake. It takes video from a Feb. 4 Austrian news report on a demonstration about climate change and overlays it with unrelated audio from a February 24 NBC news report from Ukraine," he began.
Dale then went on to state the facts, "1) Feb. 4 Austrian news report on a climate protest 2) Feb. 24 NBC report from Ukraine3) The fake -- which A) took the Austrian video of the climate protest B) replaced the audio with NBC audio from Ukraine, C) replaced the screen text on the protest with NBC text on Ukraine."
1) Feb. 4 Austrian news report on a climate protest \n2) Feb. 24 NBC report from Ukraine\n3) The fake -- which A) took the Austrian video of the climate protest B) replaced the audio with NBC audio from Ukraine, C) replaced the screen text on the protest with NBC text on Ukrainepic.twitter.com/FpyCblKZuC— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1646627130
The reporter also shared how the video is being circulated.
"The video of people in body bags moving around is being used by pro-Russia trolls and others to claim that Ukraine deaths/Ukraine news reports are being faked, when, in fact, the footage is not actually about Ukraine."
Dale added, "This hoax is *not* "ha ha, people are trying to convince us that living people are supposedly dead." It's 'wow, the media reported people died in Ukraine, but they actually showed actors lying in body bags - Ukraine casualty reporting is lying to you.'"
How this fake is being used.pic.twitter.com/utrMO9q277— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1646631406
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