How out-of-context videos mislead social media users on the Israel-Iran conflict

Published on 19/06/2025 - 12:27 GMT+2

As Israel and Iran proceed to speech occurrence for nan seventh consecutive day, a disinformation warfare is simultaneously escalating connected societal platforms.

Euronews' fact-checking team, Euroverify, has been analysing respective viral videos emerging from Iran and Israel complete caller days successful bid to verify their authenticity.

Our squad recovered a important number of aged videos, unrelated to nan existent conflict, being falsely linked to nan ongoing speech of fire.

Many of them person been viewed hundreds of thousands of times and amplified crossed platforms, sowing disorder and misleading societal media users.

Video of Tehran tunnels is from 2023

A clip circulating wide crossed X, TikTok and Instagram, and seen hundreds of thousands of times, claims to show Iranians dancing arsenic they shelter successful tunnels successful nan superior of Tehran.

Some societal media users allege they are celebrating Israeli strikes connected nan city.

"Iranians stuck successful postulation connected their measurement to bluish Iran commencement singing and dancing wrong a passageway to observe Israeli attacks connected nan Islamic regime," 1 X personification claims.

But a reverse image hunt utilizing still shots from nan clip shows that it was primitively posted connected Instagram arsenic acold backmost arsenic September 2023.

Brawl is from a Georgian court, not Tel Aviv bunker

Another video claims to show group fighting among themselves while sheltering astatine a Tel Aviv bunker.

One X station pinch nan video has been viewed complete 700,000 times.

Yet, nan footage successful truth shows an altercation astatine a Georgian court, which was first published connected X connected June 12, 2 days earlier Israel launched nan first attacks against Iran.

On that day, a 21-year-old Georgian protester was sentenced to 4 years and six months successful situation for "hitting constabulary officers pinch a stick" during demonstrations against nan ruling authorities past November.

Georgian media reported that pursuing his sentencing nan tribunal building "descended into chaos" pinch hundreds of supporters, including nan Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, coming to lend their support to nan accused.

Video does not show Israelis fleeing quadrate owed to Iranian strikes

Another video purports to show a crowd of Israeli citizens fleeing from a quadrate successful Tel Aviv amid Iranian strikes.

A reverse image hunt shows that nan segment dates from April this year, erstwhile a mendacious information alert triggered a swift removal of a quadrate successful Tel Aviv during a memorial time event.

While nan segment does show residents fleeing an Israeli square, it pre-dates nan existent conflict.

Video of 2003 US onslaught connected Iraq utilized to mislead

Other societal media users person shared a video claiming to show an detonation caused by an Iranian onslaught connected Tel Aviv.

But nan footage is astonishingly 22 years old, and shows a US onslaught connected Iraq successful 2003.

Similarly, caller footage showing an Israeli airstrike connected Houthi targets successful Yemen's superior Sanaa has been circulating pinch false claims that it shows explosions successful Israel caused by Iranian attacks.