How To Detect Fake Videos Online

In the wake of the controversy surrounding the video of the fiasco of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, in Kano State, The WHISTLER takes a look on how to detect fake videos.

Technological advancement has made it quite difficult for many people to differentiate fake videos from the original videos, but based on research it is very easy to identify fake videos.

Using FakeApp, someone can easily manipulate an original video. Based on a research, the question here is that did journalists track down people involved in the video, or are they caveating their write-ups with phrases like “appears to be”? Do you trust the site you’re looking at, or did it just randomly appear in your Facebook feed?

When you go through a video and you find out there’s something fishy or inexplicable about the video, try to find the earliest incarnation.

Looking out for brands, you might also find that the uploader of the video has some connection to an advertising agency. Plenty of viral videos are undercover sponsored content, meant to draw the viewer’s attention to a certain brand or event.

Checking the tape will also help you to identify how the video was manipulated. Probably you have seen the video is not real and you want to know how it was faked, then it’s best to download the video, and go through it frame by frame, checking for inconsistencies.

For example, examine the trick shots one by one, and highlights telltale signs of editing and visual effects. These include shadows and reflections that pop in and out of view, and weird blurring that shows where things like filament wire (used to move objects) have been erased from the shot.

This doesn’t mean you should doubt genuine videos, there are many real videos online, but what you need to do is to follow the procedure to be able to identify fake from original videos. You must not be a scientist or an expert on video special effects before you can differentiate fake from original.