You don’t have to stop me if you’ve heard this one before, because I know you have: As the US and Israel continue their bombing campaign of Iran, clips from videogames are being shared on social media as actual combat footage.
The most recent example was posted on February 28 by TheUnHeard_One, a self-described MAGA account on X, which shared a video of two jets dropping bombs and dodging anti-aircraft fire over an unnamed city. “This is one of the most AMAZING videos I have ever seen,” they wrote. “It doesn’t even look real!”
This is one of the most AMAZING videos I have ever seen. It doesn’t even look real! pic.twitter.com/X5hnHMYqWvFebruary 28, 2026
There’s actually a good reason it doesn’t look real: Because it’s not real. The video was originally posted by a Chinese-language account that claimed it was footage of the US attack on Iran. Community notes attached to both the original post and the one embedded above state that it’s not a real F-15 attack, however, but footage from the videogame War Thunder.
Ironically, this appears to be inaccurate as well—the game in question is not War Thunder, but the milsim shooter Arma 3. But the way that was determined is instructive as to why breathlessly sharing this stuff without checking sources and credibility is potentially dangerous.
Neither of the accounts that initially shared the video are journalists, and it probably would’ve remained safely encased in the sludge of X—but the MAGA influencer post was spotted and shared by Ben Mulroney, an AM talk radio host best known for his career as an entertainment news talking head and being the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
As noted by journalism watchdog PressProgress, Mulroney has previously claimed he is “not a journalist,” a statement he might expect would buy him some leeway on sloppy sharing. The problem with that argument is that Mulroney is also currently hosting The West Block, a widely-watched political affairs program on one of Canada’s largest networks. That lends him a credibility that conventional influencers lack: You don’t get handed one of the top jobs on a major network unless you’re a serious person with worthwhile thoughts on relevant topics. Theoretically, anyway.
Which brings us back to the accuracy of the community notes: Along with pointing out Mulroney’s sharing of the video, PressProgress also tracked down the real source of the video: A South Korean Arma channel on YouTube called Battle Dragon, which posted a virtually identical video in December 2024. That video is clearly marked, via Google Translate, as a game.
Watch On
After the error was pointed out, TheUnHeard_One said they “just liked the video,” and complained about being “‘fact checked’ for an opinion.”
We’ve seen this happen before: In fact, the community note attached to both video posts includes a link to a 2025 PC Gamer story explaining how clips of Arma 3 and War Thunder were being used as propaganda following Israel’s attacks on Iran—the ones it launched last year, to be clear, not the ones it’s doing now. Prior to that, clips of gameplay have been presented as actual combat footage in conflicts including Israel’s initial attacks on Gaza, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a false report of a Pakistani attack on Afghanistan, among others.
The problem is prevalent enough that, following the launch of Israel’s attack on Gaza in 2023, Arma developer Bohemia Interactive shared tips for distinguishing gameplay videos from real-world combat footage. Since it seems inevitable that this stuff is going to keep happening, here they are again:
- Very low resolution – Even dated smartphones have the ability to provide videos in HD quality. Fake videos are usually of much lower quality, and are intentionally pixelated and blurry to hide the fact that they’re taken from a videogame.
- Shaky camera – To add dramatic effect, these videos are often not captured in-game. Authors film a computer screen with the game running in low quality and with an exaggerated camera shake.
- Often takes place in the dark / at night – The footage is often dark in order to hide the video game scene’s insufficient level of detail.
- Mostly without sound – In-game sound effects are often distinguishable from reality.
- Doesn’t feature people in motion – While the game can simulate the movement of military vehicles relatively realistically, capturing natural looking humans in motion is still very difficult, even for the most modern of games.
- Heads Up Display (HUD) elements visible – Sometimes the game’s user interfaces, such as weapon selection, ammunition counters, vehicle status, in-game messages, etc. are visible. These commonly appear at the edges or in the corners of the footage.
- Unnatural particle effects – Even the most modern games have a problem with naturally depicting explosions, smoke, fire, and dust, as well as how they’re affected by environmental conditions. Look for oddly separated cloudlets in particular.
- Unrealistic vehicles, uniforms, equipment – People with advanced military equipment knowledge can recognize the use of unrealistic military assets for a given conflict. For instance, in one widely spread fake video, the US air defense system C-RAM shoots down a US A-10 ground attack plane. Units can also display non-authentic insignias, camouflage, etc.
Read the full article here
