Apparently, the military simulation Arma 3 is used for war propaganda. There are currently various videos on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube that are supposed to show scenes of war, but in fact come from Arma 3.
The videos are often distributed by users and sometimes also by government organizations and the media. This is how narratives are built that have nothing to do with reality. Accidental dissemination is also within the realm of possibility.
Developer Bohemia Interactive issued a press release to the public to warn of the misappropriation of their game. They also explain how to debunk such videos.
How to recognize the fake videos
Videos from Arma 3, for example, are appearing on the web, which appear deliberately blurred so that they are difficult to distinguish from real recordings. The creators also film from a monitor and add camera shake to disguise the virtual nature of the original.
Bohemia demonstrates the methods in a video:
link to YouTube content
According to Bohemia, these are common characteristics of a fake video:
- Recordings are often in extremely low resolution to disguise the origin of the material.
- Excessive camera shake makes it difficult to tell it’s a game.
- Dark shots also make it difficult to see much.
- Videos usually come without sound, since game sounds can easily be recognized as such.
- They mostly show footage of vehicles and weapons, but no people.
- Sometimes parts of the game’s user interface are visible.
- At times, unrealistic-looking explosions let you know it’s a game.
- For example, people with expertise can recognize unrealistic vehicles and fantasy uniforms from the game.
That’s what the developer says
According to Bohemia, the problem has been known for a long time. Such methods have already been used in conflicts in Afghanistan and Syria, most recently in the Ukraine war. Targeted dissemination of disinformation is referred to as hybrid warfare
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Pavel Křižka, the PR manager of Bohemia Interactive, explains via press release:
[…] However, we are less than thrilled that the game is being confused with actual combat footage and being used as war propaganda. This has happened in the past (Arma-3 videos have allegedly depicted conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine and between India and Pakistan). Currently, these videos have received impetus in connection with the conflict in Ukraine. We have already attempted to take action against such content by reporting it to platform operators (FB, YT, TW, IG, etc.). Unfortunately, this has proven to be very ineffective. With every deleted video, ten new ones are uploaded. We think the best way to solve this problem is to work with leading media outlets and fact-checkers (like AFP, Reuters and more). They have more reach and more capacity to fight the spread of fake video footage.
Pavel Křižka, Bohemia Interactive
Bohemia is also aimed at its own community and warns you to be responsible with content you have created about Arma 3.
No comment function?
Due to the expected high moderation effort, we have moved the comments to the forum. You can comment there as usual.
Here is the forum thread
