This fake video is spreading on social media.
The clip allegedly shows an imam holding a public hate sermon in Halle an der Saale.
“Allahu Akbar, Convert! Leave this country – or die! In a few years your teachers, your judges, your politicians will be Muslims! We conquer this country with the bellies of our women. You can’t do anything about it! Allahu Akbar, converted! Leave this country or die. Allahu Akbar!”
Numerous users spread the fake video on social media.
But what is really behind the clip?
The man in the video is not a real imam, but the right-wing extremist Sven L., who has been convicted of incitement to hatred and who creates anti-Muslim sentiment.
In addition, contrary to what is claimed on social media, the clip is not up to date.
With his appearance in the video in 2017, he disturbed four young believers who had set up an information stand in Halle to recruit new followers for their Muslim community.
Apparently, L. is posing as an imam to make passers-by believe that he is part of the group.
The result: a referral from the police – he was too close to the information stand.
L. continued the action at another place in the city – since he had not violated any law in this case, the police saw no further need for action.
Research by Mimikama’s fact checkers shows that L. posts another clip of the action with the request that it be distributed without reference to the author. Apparently, unsuspecting social media users are supposed to be deceived and the propaganda spread.
The case shows how misleading videos on social media can be – and how important it is to scrutinize the origin and timeliness of a video.
How do we check videos for manipulation in the editorial office? It is important to look at the details. The individual frames of a video often reveal whether a video has been edited. We take a close look at each image and enlarge individual sections. Indications of a fake are, for example: lack of motion blur, unnatural shadows or editing errors. The general rule at stern is: Seriousness before speed. We always double-check facts and material thoroughly before publishing them. For this we work with the cross-editorial “Team Verification” together with RTL, NTV, RTL2, Radio NRW.