Media Outlets Shared Old Image as 'First Footage of Attacker' From Pahalgam
This video has been on the internet since 2021 and is unrelated to the recent Pahalgam terror attack.
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An image of a man running with a rifle in this hands is going viral on social media to claim that it shows the terrorist involved in the Pahalgam terror attack.
Who shared this?: Along with social media users, several media outlets like Times Now, Zee News, Mint, Firstpost, The Economic Times, News18, News24, ABP News, CNBC TV18, Aaj Tak, India Today and Republic shared this claim.
However, News18 and Times Now later changed their copies into "fact-checks" without any proper clarification or addressing their mistake.
An archive can be seen here.
An archive can be seen here.
An archive can be seen here.
an archive can be seen here.
An archive can be seen here.
An archive can be seen here.
How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the image which led us to a recent video shared on Instagram.
It was captured slightly in a different angle than the viral picture so we followed by performing a reverse image search on it while also using specific keyword search.
This led us to a longer version of the video shared on Facebook on October 2021.
It showed the same man practicing firing shots from the rifle in an open meadow.
However, it did not specify any context or location but it is enough to establish that this video predates the Pahalgam terror attack.
Conclusion: Media outlets shared an old image of a man running with a rifle and falsely shared as 'first footage of Pahalgam attacker'.
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