Several supposedly “live” videos featuring firepower hitting buildings and shooting planes out of the nighttime sky have been shared on Facebook in South Africa with claims that they show Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, this is false: these hours-long videos actually show a military simulation video game called Arma 3.

One of the supposedly live-streamed videos, viewed more than 9,400 times since it was posted on February 25, 2022, features more than four hours of nighttime fighting scenes.
“Russia Vs Ukrain War Live Attack video Russia attack on Ukrain (sic),” reads the video’s caption.

It was shared using Facebook’s Live feature, where users are meant to stream live videos in real-time, although it is actually possible to stream previously-recorded footage – or footage recorded by players during video game sessions.

AFP Fact check found other very similar “live” videos, with the same “breaking news” banner, like this 10-hours long version – shared in Nigeria – in which the user clearly notes that they are “playing Arma 3”.

However, because of the way “live” videos are sometimes displayed on Facebook, this information does not always appear on the screen, leading some viewers to believe this footage shows actual scenes of the war.

AFP Fact Check previously debunked “live” videos showing scenes from the very same video game, Arma 3, in Spanish, Arabic, and Hungarian.

Our team first spotted the false claim shared in English in the Philippines, in the form of a...

Read Full Story: https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.324A9UU