The war in Ukraine is also a propaganda battle on the Internet.
This video of two orphans is currently circulating on social networks.
The accompanying text and hashtags suggest that the children are victims of the current war in Eastern Europe.
But the video is fake.
The two videos are not related to the war in Ukraine.
A reverse search reveals that the girl’s video was published in 2016, years before the current conflict.
According to the video description, the clip is said to show little Malak after fleeing Fallujah, Iraq.
The video of the orphan boy will be released in 2020, also years before the current war broke out.
The boy is reportedly from Idlib in Syria.
The two edited videos are accompanied by sad music – apparently to make the sad clips even more emotional. But despite the heartbreaking background of the two clips, the videos have no relation to the Ukraine war.
The case makes it clear that not only old videos of combat operations and explosions are taken out of context for propaganda purposes – but also emotional stories that touch the viewer’s heart.
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.