A recording of a popular video game made to look like footage of the fatal Jan. 15 plane crash in Nepal is currently circulating among Filipinos on social media.
“Nepal plane crash Emergency Landing in Indian Airports 2023,” read the title of two videos posted by Facebook (FB) pages ABC and Kea i1.
This is clickbait. The circulating videos feature animations of a plane that has caught fire. The airline name imprinted on the plane and a landmark visible in the background are exclusive to the game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V.
More, one of the pages even indicated in its post that it was “streaming Grand Theft Auto V.” This feature is part of Facebook Gaming, where content creators can stream live videos and tag a video game they are playing. However, several netizens failed to realize this was a gameplay.
In ABC’s video, an airplane bearing the text “FlyUS” with three of its four engines ablaze flies across an urban city and passes by nearby mountains. This scene loops continuously for over eight hours.
FlyUS is a fictional airline company that is part of GTA V. Although there actually is a FlyUs aviation group based in Schiphol, Netherlands, it bears a different logo.
Flight 691, which crashed in Pokhara city, Nepal this week and killed at least 70 people, is owned by the Nepalese airline company Yeti Airlines.
As the circulating video played out, the plane passed by a Hollywood-style sign atop a mountain that read “Vinewood.” Vinewood is a fictional city district in GTA V, based on the real-life Hollywood in Los Angeles, California.
The erroneous videos, posted by FB pages ABC (created on July 26, 2022) and Kea i1 (created on June 15, 2022), got a total of over 1,496 interactions.
Some netizens who thought the video was real expressed their sorrow in the comment section and offered prayers, while others immediately recognized it as video game footage.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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