Fact Check Videos: This is a modern world with high-speed internet available at a cheap price and a good network. And the phone industry has also taken a long jump in terms of availability and affordability. Nowadays the smartphone has been so cheap and affordable even kids in 8th class have a big smartphone with high-speed internet. So accessibility to something is very easy. And if one forwards a videos, photos or messages it will easily be viral in a minute.
Videos nowadays are getting altered and edited to spread hatred and misinformation. But not all videos are fake. Some of them are true and unedited. The intension of spreading a video is to spread panic in public. You may have seen a lots of videos on coronavirus in this pandemic. Some saying that they treated corona virus with just gargling with warm water some singing from a building’s balcony and you hear applause all around. They are fake. The videos were edited and was circulated to the country to create panic in public.
Amnesty International YouTube data viewer
The Amnesty International YouTube data viewer is a site for the beginner on which one can check a video. You need to paste the link of the video and then it will show you thumbnails and everything about the video including ID, series of the frame that may b used to do image search, date and time. All you need to know about a video will be found there.
InVid Verification Tool
Another option to check a video is to add an extension on your chrome browser by doing InVid verification tool. When you will enter a URL in it, it will show you all the necessary information like metadata, still frames etc. It also has an option for the screenshot, keyframes, magnifier to help you do the reverse image search for better and precise searching.
The magnifier may help to know the small details of the video and sometimes the origin of the video where it took place. It also gives you the option to direct reverse search the image from the video to get full information.
Mapping Tool
Another way of doing fact-checking a video is to use Mapping Tool, like google, it will offer satellite imaging and rich pallet to give you a broad search. This will help the user to find the location and landmark of the video and the timing also. Recently this technique was used by BBC to check a location of a video in which two ladies and two children were executed and the conclusion they gave was the video was made by Cameroon’s soldier and the execution was took by Cameroon’s army personnel they also told where the execution took place and the timing of it.
One should just know what to check and where to check. Fake videos spread fast as they have heating topics and some brainwashing content. When someone sees a video about the heating topic, he needs to check if the video is true or edited to spread hatred for someone or one side. Many people want to spread hatred and clash just to have fun or get fame so they alter the video and edit them as they want and then they spread it through social media because it is the fastest way to spread such kinds of things.
Recently in a pandemic, there were a lot of fake videos that spread and impacted people all over India. They had misconception and misunderstanding about the virus. And nobody thought to check or verify the videos and information they are getting. Some information that spread the misconception was drinking alcohol may kill coronavirus, coronavirus stays in your neck for two days, gargling with warm water and salt will kill the virus.
And one misconception that would have caused serious damage was the people saying that there is no coronavirus it is just government fooling us. Many people believed this to be true and were carelessly roaming here and there. So you can imagine what these fake videos and information may cause. What kind of disaster it can bring and how much life-threatening damage it can do.
We should always check for the video we are getting. If it is forwarded by someone and you suspect it to be fake, then verify the video and do not send it to others and stop the one who sent you. These fake videos spread just with chains, if this will broke then there will be no misconception and misunderstanding and wrong information. Government is doing what they can and we all beings responsible citizen should also take care of these small things. Safety is in our hands and we can keep you and your environment safe and healthy.
