As war in Iran and the broader Middle East continues, real and fake videos of the conflict are proliferating on social media — and it's getting harder to tell the difference.
SBS Persian journalist Niv Sadrolodabaee was almost misled by a fake video showing prisoners moving into Evin prison in Tehran.
The video was a perfect fit for the story Niv was working on, following concerns from sources that political prisoners were being mistreated in Iran.
With internet blackouts in the country, it's hard to get information from the ground — so the video was exactly the kind of source he needed.
It showed a line of prisoners exiting a truck surrounded by guards.
"It seemed like somebody had filmed it with their phone, which is a pretty common thing in Iran," he told SBS Examines.
"People usually film protests with their phone, and Western media covers those videos."
But before he hit publish, Niv noticed something didn't look quite right.
"When they zoom in, you see someone disappearing from the video, and then you see someone walking in a very unusual way."
An expert confirmed Niv's concerns around the realness of the video.
It was a massive reality check for me.Niv Sadrolodabaee
The video was supposedly shot close to where Niv grew up.
"I knew those parts of my town, and being almost misled by a video of my own hometown was a very concerning moment for me," he said.
Fake images and videos are being shared online at a rapid pace, and it's becoming harder to distinguish between what's real and fake.
In this episode of SBS Examines, we speak to experts on the role artificial intelligence is playing in reporting on the war in the Middle East, and ask how to spot a fake piece of content.
This episode is a collaboration with SBS Persian.
