A video of a massive explosion is doing the rounds on social media platforms. The footage shows an explosion causing a huge fireball followed by a thick cloud of fire and smoke that rises high into the sky. Several media outlets as well as social media users are sharing this video claiming that it is related to the ongoing military conflict between Israel and Iran.
TV9 Kannada published the video with the caption, “Iran missile hits a building in Haifa, Israel.” (Archived link 1, Archived link 2)
The outlet’s X handle and Facebook page also posted the video with the claim that the visuals showed an Iranian missile strike on Israeli territory.
An Iranian Instagram page called akhbar.fouri and Indian Instagram handle geopolitics.ig also amplified the viral video as a recent attack by Iran on Israel.
Other X handles, including @iamSaharEmami, @truck2047, @Qlbi_3la_Gaza and @mustafaaleem, promoted the visuals and accompanying claim.
This video has also gained widespread traction on YouTube as an Iranian strike on Israel.
Fact Check
Alt News examined the viral video in question and observed that in addition to the fire and smoke from the explosion, lightning flashes were visible in the sky, which is not typical of real-life footage of explosions caused by military attacks. This suggests that the video may have been artificially generated.
We performed a reverse image search using frames taken from the viral video. This led us to a YouTube video uploaded on June 18 by a channel named cemilacıyangallery. The caption provided explicitly states that it is an AI-generated visual.
In addition, when a user asked for the location of the blast, the creator responded that it had been generated using artificial intelligence.
When we examined the YouTube channel further, it became evident that the creator consistently uploaded AI generated videos. The channel’s description also clearly states that all videos on the channel have been produced with artificial intelligence.
To sum up, several individuals and media outlets, including TV9 Kannada, circulated an AI-generated video on social media as real, falsely presenting it as scenes from the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel.
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