CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With the conflict in Ukraine continuing, pictures, videos and social media posts are circulating that may not always be true or accurate.
Since Russia's attacks on Ukraine began, we have seen several videos and pictures go viral that are actually fake posts. There are a lot of tools you can use to fact-check these videos for yourself.
Here are some steps you can follow that will help identify a fake photo or video online.
One video claims to show Russian paratroopers dropping into Ukraine. The video has gone viral on several platforms. The VERIFY team found the original poster of this video is a TikTok user with the handle @Romanandler123. The video was deleted on TikTok, but when you look at the user with the same handle name on Instagram, the video was originally posted there in 2015.
To further look into the video, WCNC Charlotte did a reverse image search using Reveye and didn't find an earlier version of the video.
These are all things you can do on your own. We used Reveye, but one of the easiest reverse image searches to use at home is Google's. You can put the picture right into the search bar and it will tell you where it originated from.
Also, do your research. If the video has been shared to several accounts, look for the original handle of the person who posted it. Then you can to that person's account and see exactly when it was posted and the context behind it.
Last, of all, look at the picture itself. You can sometimes spot things in the background to help identify the place and time it was taken. Those details can help you determine whether each picture is worth a thousand words or worthless.
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