00:00Video Game Footage or War Scenes
00:02Videos purportant to show Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb, which was carried out by Ukraine's
00:10security service on the 1st of June, have been spreading across social media.
00:14While many of the clips do not bear proof they show authentic footage of the operation,
00:18they have racked up hundreds of thousands of views across social media platforms.
00:22By conducting a reverse image search, Euroverify found that a number of clips have been misleadingly
00:27captioned and taken out of context.
00:30Euroverify was able to match multiple videos posted on social media with this video posted
00:35by this YouTube account.
00:36The account's videos boast misleading titles which could suggest it is posting genuine war
00:41footage.
00:42But checking the video's captions reveals that the videos are Armour 3 footage, not real news.
00:49Euroverify contacted the game's developers, Bohemia Interactive, who confirmed that these
00:53videos were created using a modded Armour 3 game.
00:57The developer also told Euroverify that the vast majority of videos on this account, which
01:03boasts almost 70,000 followers, were from Armour 3.
01:07Video game modding is a popular activity for gamers whereby they customise a game's features
01:12or visuals.
01:13There are endless YouTube channels and social media accounts who share this kind of content,
01:17which can be mistaken for real-life war.
01:19This can lead footage to be taken out of context when it is not clearly branded as a game.
01:25Like other developers, Bohemia Interactive has repeatedly stated that it does not agree
01:29with its products being used as war propaganda.
01:33Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there has been an increase in video
01:37games contributing to misinformation, as well as being taken out of context to be portrayed
01:42as war footage.
01:43These video clips have also been taken out of context to illustrate the war between Israel
01:48and Hamas, as well as the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.
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