A 'War Thunder' clip shared on social media as footage of the war in Iran racked up 7 million views

[DigitalDrifter]

Doh!
When you go on sites like 'X' for instance, you see this sort of thing all the time. People will share photos and videos that are fake, or are taken out of context all the time. You'll read the comments, and see that a lot of people obviously believe them. It's something that should be of great concern, when you consider how serious this can be.
Now having said that, in this particular case however, you have to wonder how anyone could fall for a clip of a 100 year old American battleship taking down a German Messerschmitt from WWII.

• Viral Misleading Clip: A video claiming an American ship shot down an Iranian jet went viral with over 7 million views, but it was debunked as footage from the game War Thunder, showing WWII-era vehicles.
• Game Footage Misuse: Both War Thunder and Arma 3 are often used as fake war propaganda due to their realistic visuals, prompting developers to issue guidelines to spot fake videos (e.g., low resolution, dark scenes, HUD elements).
• Verification Efforts: Agencies like AFP and platforms like X confirm that many viral clips are fabricated, highlighting the importance of critical evaluation before sharing wartime content.

The current conflict between the US/Israel and Iran has seen an abundance of footage circulating online: some shared directly from official sources, some legitimate, and some of more questionable origin. A viral example of the latter is a clip that claims to show an American ship shooting down an Iranian fighter jet, which has now been debunked as footage from the military simulation game War Thunder.

The clip has been shared by various accounts on platforms such as X, with this example garnering over seven million views. An apparently damaged US warship can be seen with all guns blazing, firing at a nearby Iranian jet, eventually hitting the jet and causing it to explode and crash near the ship. The post was shared by figures including the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, in which he captioned the clip with "Bye bye" (Abbott has since deleted this).

MSN

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

The average person you encounter day to day has an IQ that's barely two points higher than a complete retard, so there's nothing surprising about people believing this stuff.

 

[Matted Joybeard]

Greatest country on God's earth

 

[1srelluc]

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

The average person you encounter day to day has an IQ that's barely two points higher than a complete retard, so there's nothing surprising about people believing this stuff.

And that explains democrats’ survival and success.

 

[PeterPilot]

The average person you encounter day to day has an IQ that's barely two points higher than a complete retard, so there's nothing surprising about people believing this stuff.

Plus the average person is the result of decades worth of government propaganda promoting war.

 

[DigitalDrifter]

I have exclusive video of the U.S. taking out the Iranian navy....................................please pass this around to those who believe Iran is winning this war. This footage will be devastating to them. Pay no attention to the header and preview, it's designed to fool you.

 

[Churchill]

As it's written in the book of Ecclesiastes:

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Doh!
When you go on sites like 'X' for instance, you see this sort of thing all the time. People will share photos and videos that are fake, or are taken out of context all the time. You'll read the comments, and see that a lot of people obviously believe them. It's something that should be of great concern, when you consider how serious this can be.
Now having said that, in this particular case however, you have to wonder how anyone could fall for a clip of a 100 year old American battleship taking down a German Messerschmitt from WWII.


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MSN

Maybe, but 5 million are probably foreign bots.