Video game footage falsely shared as US forces taking down Islamic terrorists

A video of a sniper supposedly shooting at terrorist targets is being shared with the claim that US forces eliminated Islamic terrorists from a two-kilometre distance. “अमेरिकन सैनिको ने 2 किलोमीटर की दूरी से उड़ाए इस्लामिक जिहादियो के सर मज़ेदार वीडियो देखें (Watch this fun video where American soldiers shot at the head of Islamic Jihadis from a two-kilometre distance -translated)”, reads the message posted along with the video tweeted by one Arvind Tank.

अमेरिकन सैनिको ने 2 किलोमीटर की दूरी से उड़ाए इस्लामिक जिहादियो के सर
मज़ेदार वीडियो देखें 🚩🚩🚩👇👇 pic.twitter.com/3kkDpYlxAT

— अरविन्द टाँक 💯% फ़ॉलोबेक़ (@tankarvind) November 1, 2019

Many other people on Facebook and Twitter shared the video. Posting the same message, Facebook user Pramila Tamrakar shared another version of the same clip.

The video is circulating on Twitter with identical claim at least since July 2018.

अमेरिकन सैनिको ने 2 किलोमीटर की दूरी से उड़ाए इस्लामिक जिहादियो के सर
मज़ेदार वीडियो pic.twitter.com/fsYSJ0oMeE

— Dr Yudhyavir Singh (@yudhyavir) July 3, 2018

Fact-check

A cursory look at the video suggested that it could be from a video game. At 29 seconds in the viral video, one can spot the instructions that pop-up in the sniper’s view that read, “Hunt and Kill camped enemies”.

Furthermore, at 66 seconds in the video, we get one more confirmation that the video pertains to a game as the pop-message refers to keyboard key (W, S) to zoom in and out.

With a keyword search on YouTube, Alt News was able to find a longer version of the same gameplay footage. It pertains to a walkthrough of “Mission 7 – Friends from Afar” of the game ‘Medal of Honor’ released in 2010. It’s owned by Electronic Arts (EA), a global leader in digital interactive entertainment.

In conclusion, a video of gameplay footage from ‘Medal of Honor’ was shared on social media by several netizens with the narrative that it depicts an operation undertaken by American soldiers where Islamic terrorists were brutally killed from afar.