A YouTube channel altered three photos of Chinese Coast Guard ships to claim that they were recently destroyed by an unidentified weapon.
The channel posted the hoax on Sept. 13, which bore the caption:
“GRABE ITO! Barko Ng China Coast Guard WASAK NANG TAMAAN Ng Hindi Pa Natutukoy Na SANDATA (This is bad! Chinese Coast Guard ship destroyed by an unidentified weapon)!”
The erroneous claim appeared two days after China sailed one of its aircraft carriers into the Western Pacific Ocean for a naval drill.
A cursory search yielded no results about a Chinese Coast Guard ship getting blown up that week.
VERA Files Fact Check traced back the original copies and context behind the photos of the ships featured in the YouTube video.
Note: Click on the photos to reveal their original source
Several netizens who thought the claim was true said it was an act of “karma” or “God’s punishment.”
The fake claim by YouTube channel Terong Explained (created on Oct. 6, 2015), got 204,577 interactions.
On Sept. 20, YouTube channel Real South Pride Productions (created on March 6, 2015) and Facebook page Alamin Natin PH (created on April 23, 2023) showed a vlogger who reacted to the video. These posts garnered a total of 369,818 interactions.
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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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