Old clip from video game channel falsely shared as Pakistan strike on Iran

Published on February 21, 2024 at 03:55
Updated on February 21, 2024 at 04:02
3 min read
By Masroor GILANI, AFP Pakistan

Pakistan and Iran traded deadly air strikes in each other's territory in January 2024, but footage circulating on social media that appears to show a rocket hitting targets on the ground actually predates the strikes by more than eight years. The falsely shared clip was posted in July 2015 on a YouTube channel that said it showed a video game.

"Video - AirStrike #Pakistan #Iran #ISPR," reads a post on X that shared the footage on January 18, 2024.

"ISPR" refers to the Inter-Services Public Relations -- the media wing of Pakistan military.

The monochrome video appears to show an aerial view of people running, before a missile crashes to the ground and explodes.

On January 18, Pakistan launched air strikes on what it called "militant targets" in Iran, two days after similar Iranian strikes on its territory.

The tit-for-tat raids in the porous border region of Baluchistan -- split between the two nations -- stoked regional tensions already inflamed by the Israel-Hamas war.

The initial Iranian strikes, which Pakistan said killed at least two children, drew a sharp rebuke from Islamabad, which recalled its ambassador from Tehran and blocked Iran's envoy from returning to his post.

Tehran also summoned Islamabad's charge d'affaires over Pakistan's strikes, which left at least nine people dead.

The two countries, however, since announced they have decided to de-escalate and resume diplomatic missions, with the two ambassadors returning to their posts.

Screenshot of the video falsely shared on X, taken on January 30, 2024

The video was shared in similar posts on X here, here and here, and on Facebook here and here.

Some X users appeared to believe the video showed a genuine strike, while others pointed out it looked like video game footage.

"Ultimate precision," one comment read.

"Fake game video," another said.

AFP found no trace of the video on the ISPR's website or Facebook, X and Instagram pages (archived links here, here, here and here).

A Google reverse image search of the video found it previously posted on YouTube on July 9, 2015 -- more than eight years before the recent Pakistani strikes on Iran (archived link).

The clip shared in false posts corresponds to the 0:23 to 0:37 mark of the old video on YouTube.

The YouTube video's title reads: "Apache Gunner Takes Out Taliban in FLIR Cam #6 - Arma 2 Realism Experiment".

Arma 2 is a tactical shooter simulation game developed by Czech company Bohemia Interactive (archived link).

The description of the video further clarifies: "THIS IS A VIDEO GAME AND NOT REAL FOOTAGE! THE IDEA WAS TO SIMULATE THE EFFECT AND SEE HOW FAR MY VIDEO EDITING SKILLS HAVE COME."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video falsely shared online (left) and the YouTube video (right):

A screenshots comparison of the misleading post (left) and the YouTube video (right): (AFP)

The UK-based YouTube channel "Double Doppler" that shared the footage was created in May 2010 and has posted hundreds of clips that it says show video game footage.

The channel says it specialises in "modding", which refers to modifying the features of video games by fans.

In a pinned comment, the owner of the channel indicated the footage had previously been falsely portrayed as actual strikes.

"If you are coming from the 'strike' sources, they've misused my video as 'real' footage," they wrote.

"I guess no one can say my mods are 'unrealistic' now."

AFP has repeatedly debunked posts that have falsely depicted video games as clips of fighting in Gaza, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Myanmar.

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