Fact-check: Child kidnapping video viral on WhatsApp is scripted - Alt News
Shinjinee Majumder
8th September 2022 / 5:32 pm / Last updated: 9th September 2022
A 30-second video showing three men haggling over money and apparently unconscious children lying around them is viral with the claim that the clip is yet another incident of child-kidnapping. The person recording the incident can be heard pointing out that the men are kidnapping children. Alt News has received multiple requests on its WhatsApp helpline (76000 11160) to verify the authenticity of the viral video.
The video has been shared on Facebook with the claim that it is real.
बच्चों को किडनैप करके जंगल में गेरा
बच्चे किडनैप करके पैसे बाटते हुए 4 मुजरिम
देखिये कैसे बच्चों को बेहोश करके………..ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर कीजिये
अपने बच्चों का भी रखे ध्यान
Posted by देवा भईया – समाज सेवी on Thursday, 25 August 2022
The video has also been shared on Twitter with the same claim.
वीडियो को देखकर आपकी आंखें खुली की खुली रह जाएंगी पैर के नीचे की जमीन खिसक जाएगी कलेजा एक बार दहल जाएगा वीडियो कहां की है यह तो नहीं पता है वीडियो कहीं की भी हो प्रशासन को हरकत में आना चाहिए pic.twitter.com/EzMkXxmKXv
— Sunil Yadav (@SunilYa59918245) July 6, 2022
Upon reverse image searching key-frames of the video, Alt News found a longer version of the video on Facebook, shared by user Gafoor Ibrahim on June 30, 2022. His post was shared almost 10,000 times. The viral clip can be seen from 2:03 in this video.
School കുട്ടികളെ തട്ടി കൊണ്ട് പോയി അവയങ്ങൾ എടുത്ത് വിലപ്പന നടത്തുന്ന സംഘം
Posted by Gafoor Ibrahim on Thursday, 30 June 2022
Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that at the 0:30-mark in this video, a text-box appears at the bottom of the video, which reads, “Please read the video disclaimer carefully. This is not a real incident”. However, the Hindi part of the disclaimer reads, “यह वीडियो बहुत ही रिस्क लेकर बनाया गया है, ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर करे” (Translation: The making of the video was very risky, please share as much as possible). It does not mention that the video is scripted. Hence, only English readers can understand that the video is a work of fiction. Those who read only the Hindi disclaimer can easily be misled.
Again, at 1:27, the disclaimer at the bottom of the video reads, “This video is a complete fiction, all events in the video are scripted and made for awareness purpose”. Additionally, it states that the video has “nothing to do with any real incident” and that all the “characters/persons shown in the video are playing their roles”.
There are also certain observations that can be made after a thorough inspection of the video. These are not uncommon in other scripted videos.
Moreover, the reader might notice that the text of the disclaimer reads, “The video is a complete fiction….” which is grammatically incorrect. We looked up this text on Google and found that similar disclaimers starting with this exact phrase have been used in several other scripted videos as well.
For instance, a similar video of child kidnapping was believed to be true in the past. It was subsequently debunked. This video also contains a disclaimer which starts with “The video is a complete fiction….”. The disclaimer is quite similar to the one seen in the viral video.
Hence it is clear that a staged video was shared on social media with the claim that it is real. Apart from having a disclaimer declaring that the events in the video are fictitious, there are several other elements in the clip that can commonly be seen in scripted videos. Alt News has, in the past, debunked several such staged videos and child kidnapping claims on social media.
Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation.
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