A recording of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is being passed off as footage of the “final moments” of the passenger plane that crashed near São Paulo, Brazil on Aug. 9.
A day after the fatal crash happened, a 13-second clip of a plane nose-diving into the ground with its engine in flames circulated among netizens in the Philippines and abroad.
TikTok user @Fly_zone77 uploaded the video with the caption:
“Moments Before Brazil plane crash #PLANECRASH #crashlanding #foryou #Brazilplane #foryoupagee #viralvideotiktok #PLANE.”
The clip does not show the Brazil plane crash. A quick look at @Flyzone_77’s account shows that its bio reads: “GTA 5 GAME! DAILY UPLOAD VIDEOS!”
Some netizens also pointed out that the plane in the circulating video bore the logo of the German flag carrier Lufthansa.
The ATR 72-500 aircraft that crashed in Brazil was operated by local airline Voepass. It was on its way to São Paulo from Paraná before it crashed and killed all 62 people on board.
Glitches like some elements unnaturally and suddenly appearing also gave away the video’s falsity.
Take a moment to check posts on social media before sharing them. VERA Files has debunked other false claims that misrepresented GTA gameplay videos as footage of real events.
TikTok user @fly_zone77‘s video garnered 623,600 reactions, 15,400 comments, 96,900 shares and a whopping 38.4 million views as of publication. A copy posted by the FB page Ball Soccer.كرة القدم (created on May 25, 2021) also garnered 4,700 reactions, 808 comments, 391 shares and 3.1 million views. False posts from two Filipino FB netizens also collectively received 29,387 engagements.
