War in Ukraine. a war video game starting a wave of disinformation

Soldiers clash in burning cities, warplanes are shot down by missiles, drones pulverize tanks. Weapon 3: which feed the deluge of misinformation. Clips taken from this game, often with headbands added “to live” Where? “Shocking News” they have often been used in fake videos purporting to depict the Russian invasion of Ukraine to make them look more authentic. The ease with which they deceive the public, sometimes even television channels, worries researchers. It is “A reminder of how easily people can be fooled”Claire Wardle, co-director of Brown University’s Information Futures Lab, told AFP. “With improved visuals in video games, CGI can look real at first glance”he explains. “People need to know how to verify the authenticity of these images, especially how to review the metadata, so that these errors can be avoided, especially by the media.”

Weapon 3:, from the Czech studio Bohemia Interactive, allows you to create different combat scenarios using planes, tanks and different weapons. Many players then share videos of their adventures online, which sometimes go awry. under the images ofWeapon 3: titled “Ukrainian counterattack”.for example, a deluded netizen commented: “We should ask Ukraine to prepare NATO forces after this war.”

“The First TikTok War”

“It’s flattering thoughWeapon 3: simulates modern conflict so realistically, we are unhappy that it could be mistaken for real combat footage and used as war propaganda.”the representative of the studio responded in a press release. “We are trying to fight against this content by reporting it on platforms, but it is not effective at all. For every unpublished video, ten more are uploaded every day.

Images in recent yearsWeapon 3: have also been used to misrepresent the conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Palestine, fake news that is regularly condemned by the digital verification media. AFP tracked down several, including one in November that claimed to show Russian tanks being hit by Javelin missiles and was viewed tens of thousands of times. According to Bohemia Interactive, these hijackings have grown in popularity with the invasion of Ukraine, sometimes referred to as Ukraine. “The First TikTok War” because of the many images showing it on social media.

“Trolls” and: “naïve”

The media were also deceived. Romanian TV channel Romania TV presented an old videoWeapon 3: as the fighting in Ukraine shows, and the former defense secretary as well as the former intelligence chief have both commented on the images as if they were real. Already in February, another Romanian channel, Antena 3, mistakenly aired an old video of itWeapon 3: and invited the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense to analyze it. This will be limited to general remarks about the conflict.

There are various reasons for sharing these fake videos on social media. “I suspect that the people posting this content are just trolls who want to see how many people they can fool.”Nick Waters of digital investigation website Bellingcat told AFP. Those who then share these publications, according to him. “naive people” trying to gain internet visibility or subscribers. Given the unsophisticated nature of segment-based disinformationWeapon 3:unlikely to be one of the state actors, researchers say.

It is easier for them to check these clips than “deep lies” (Where? “deep lies”), which consist of the use of artificial intelligence to create confusingly realistic images that are increasingly used in the criminal world. “If you know what to expect, these (Arma 3) videos aren’t really that hard to spot as fakes.”, adds Nick Waters. Unfortunately, he regrets “A lot of people don’t have the skills” to detect misinformation;