Soldiers fighting in burning cities, fighter jets shot down by missiles, drones spraying tanks – images that look real but are actually taken from video games such as “Arma 3”, fueling a wave of disinformation about the war in Ukraine, writes Agerpres from link to France Presse.

Videos taken from the game Arma 3, often accompanied by billboards with messages such as “Live” or “Breaking News” to give them a more authentic look, were often used in fake videos purporting to show moments of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. .

The ease with which they deceive the public, and sometimes even television stations, worries researchers. “Thanks to the enhancement of visual sequences in video games, synthetic images can appear at first glance to be real,” explains Claire Wardle, co-director of Brown University’s Information Futures Lab.

The game Arma 3 from the Czech studio Bohemia Interactive allows you to generate various combat scenarios with planes, tanks and various other weapons. Many players then share images of their adventures online, which are often stolen or used for propaganda purposes by camp members.

For example, in one of the scenes, it is claimed that Russian tanks are striking with Javelin missiles, and under the Arma 3 frame called “Counterattack of Ukraine!” A netizen, misled and impressed by the success of the Ukrainian army, which these images speak of, commented: “We should ask Ukraine to train NATO forces after this war,” according to Agerpres.