The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20200807153834/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-missile/fact-check-beirut-explosion-video-has-been-doctored-to-include-fake-missile-idUSKCN252287
August 6, 2020 / 3:01 PM / Updated a day ago

Fact check: Beirut explosion video has been doctored to include fake missile

Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

A video circulating on social media claims to show a missile causing a massive explosion in Beirut on August 4. This video has been digitally altered.

The doctored video has been shared on Facebook ( here ), Twitter ( here ) and YouTube ( here ), with some social media users noting that it was circulating on closed messaging platforms such as Telegram ( here ) and WhatsApp ( here ). Some users claim the “missile” is Israeli ( here ).

The video is shorter, cropped, and of a lower quality than earlier uploads showing the same footage ( here ). It is overlaid with graphics and includes a still image at the beginning with an implausibly clear image of a missile circled in the frame. In a frame-by-frame analysis of the video this projectile is not visible in all the key frames, including before the moment of impact. The original, unedited, video was first uploaded to social media on August 5 by a Beirut resident ( here, here ). The video was shot on Rue Chafaka, half a mile from the site of the explosion, as confirmed by Google Street View (tinyurl.com/y2wqe3cn).

VERDICT

False. A video circulating on social media does not show a missile causing the Beirut explosion.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .

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