War in Ukraine

Tokyo video doctored to add anti-Zelensky billboard

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on August 1, 2023 at 21:49
  • 5 min read
  • By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

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A video circulating online appears to show a prominent digital billboard in Japan saying, "Stop war" and "Stop Zelenskyy." But the clip has been doctored; the sign featured people -- not the anti-Ukraine message -- in otherwise matching footage posted to YouTube in 2020, prior to Russia's invasion.

"Billboard that says 'Stop Zelensky, Stop War' in Japan," says a July 31, 2023 post from The Post Millennial, a conservative Canadian website that has previously spread misinformation.

Screenshot from Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 1, 2023

Similar posts sharing the same video rocketed across Twitter, which is rebranding as "X," and other sites such as Facebook, Reddit and TikTok.

Screenshot from Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 1, 2023
Screenshot from Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 1, 2023

 

 

The clip also spread in Spanish, Chinese and Italian.

But matching footage (archived here) from nearly three years ago shows the same digital billboard making no mention of the country's war with Russia or its leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky.

AFP found the original video, titled "Night Walk in Tokyo Shibuya," by conducting a reverse image search using Google Lens. It was posted to YouTube on October 18, 2020, more than a year before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Starting at approximately the 21:20 mark, the 2020 video shows the same cars, bikes, pedestrians, signs and movie posters that can be seen in the manipulated version now circulating online.

Screenshot from Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 1, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP
Screenshot from YouTube taken August 1, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

 

 

Screenshot from Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 1, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP
Screenshot from YouTube taken August 1, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

 

 

There are other indications that the footage predates the war, including the many pedestrians wearing masks outdoors amid the then-raging Covid-19 pandemic.

Movie posters on a building that includes a cinema can also be seen advertising "Mio's Cookbook" and "God of Novels," films that premiered in 2020, according to IMDb (archived here and here). Stock photos AFP found of the building from October 2020 show the same displays.

Screenshot from Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 1, 2023, with an element outlined by AFP

AFP geolocated the footage to an intersection near Shibuya Toei Plaza in the popular Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan (archived here).

Screenshot from Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 1, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP
Screenshot from Google Maps Street View taken August 1, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

 

 

Days before the altered video spread online, AFP reported that Japan had scaled up its sanctions against Russia, revealing on July 28 an expanded list that includes an export ban on electric vehicles.

AFP previously debunked a similarly manipulated video that inserted an anti-Zelensky banner into footage of New York City.

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the Ukraine-Russia conflict here.

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