Verify Before You Share: The 60-Second Playbook to Spot Fake Videos

Viral video feels true because motion tricks the eye — but most clips are recycled, stitched, or misframed.

This piece hands you a tight, newsroom-tested three-step routine (context → frames → file) you can run in under a minute to stop misinformation from spreading.

Treat every clip as evidence, not entertainment — two quick questions in 60 seconds will save you from amplifying a lie, and help spot fake videos.

Will you verify before you share?

The Playbook to Spot Fake Videos: Start with context — who posted this and why now?

Video looks like proof because it moves. That’s the con.

The cure is procedural: slow down just long enough to check the room.

Open the post, read the caption, and scan the uploader’s history. New accounts, single-topic click farms or captions drenched in outrage are red flags.

A quick scroll usually tells you whether you’re looking at a reporter, an eyewitness, or an attention-seeking feed. If the caption smells like moral panic, assume manipulation until proven otherwise.

Before you tap share, ask one person, “Where did you get this?”

Make the clip still — extract frames, expose recycling

Pause the video and grab 2–4 screenshots of clear frames — faces, shopfronts, license plates, anything readable. Run those frames through reverse-image searches (Google, Yandex, TinEye). Many “new” scenes collapse under this pressure: the same frame often pops up with different dates or countries.

This is the fastest way to catch recycled footage. It takes less time than composing a hot reply and more impact than forwarding without checking.

Listen with the sound off — look for deepfake tells

Mute the clip and watch lips versus audio. Mismatched lip-sync, oddly smooth skin, jittery micro-expressions, or a clean voice layered over chaotic background noise are classic AI giveaways. Lighting mismatches — a brightly lit face in a dark street, or shadows pointing the wrong way — often betray edits and splices.

If the mouth and voice don’t line up, treat the claim as unverified. Small sensory checks like this are low-effort and high-return.

Read the file — metadata as corroboration

Ask for the original file when you can. EXIF and media metadata can reveal creation timestamps, device models, and evidence of recompression or edits. Metadata can be stripped or forged, so use it alongside your context and reverse-search results.

Think of metadata as a corroborating witness, not a lone detective.

Triangulate geographically — pin the place, then the claim

One readable shop sign, a dialect, or a weather clue can pin a clip to a place. Cross-check with satellite maps, local newsfeeds, or community channels. In West Africa, a single storefront name or a dialect cue will often tell you whether footage is local or recycled.

Low-effort local checks = high-return verification.

Use forensic tools — but don’t worship them

Error Level Analysis, clone-detection and audio spectrograms can surface edits, but they throw false positives on compressed phone clips. Treat these tools like thermometers — they tell you something’s off, not what to believe.

Combine tool signals with at least one independent human check.

A 30–60 second phone routine you can repeat

1. Pause and read the caption.

2. Open the account and skim recent posts.

3. Take two screenshots of clear frames and run reverse-image searches.

4. Mute and watch for lip-sync or lighting mismatches.

5. If unsure, ask the sender for the original file or flag it to a trusted reporter.

These moves are quick, repeatable and boring — which is the point: boring checks beat viral lies.

A single verified correction is worth a hundred unchecked shares.

When stakes are high — elections, riots, or human-rights claims — act like a newsroom: contact on-the-ground sources, request raw files, gather multiple witnesses, and route findings to fact-checkers or legal teams.

Platforms act when evidence is solid; half-baked clips keep metastasizing.

Not a journalist? You still matter. Pause. Ask “where did you get this?”

Tag a reputable reporter or a fact-checking group.

Post that you’re verifying rather than amplifying the clip as truth.

This isn’t cynicism — it’s usefulness.

So next time a clip tugs at your pity or rage, run context → frames → file.

Sixty seconds of effort; millions fewer lies in circulation. Will you verify before you share?

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