FROM THE FIELD DEBUNKING VIRAL VIDEOS Example 1: A video purporting to show3 a “fireball” or meteor shower in California was widely shared by news organizations and on social media. The video turned out to be several months old and filmed in the DC area. Example 2: A widely circulated video4 purporting to show police abuse in Venezuela had been uploaded months earlier and claimed to depict Colombian special forces abusing a farmer. Several months later it was re-uploaded and circulated again, this time purporting to show Mexican police abusing an activist. STEP 3 Where Was The Video Taken? Google Maps and Google Earth: Google Maps5 provides a map, satellite photos, and street views from many locations around the world. Using these, you can try to find any distinctive landmarks that appear in the video in other images of the alleged location. Using Google Earth,6 you can use the Photo Layer to see images taken in certain locations, and Terrain Layer to see the area’s terrain. Choose the option “Show Historical Imagery” to go back in time and see satellite images from different months and years. This option can allow you to see change over time, or to see images with different angles and quality. Scrutinize audio and visual clues: Other indicators that can help verify that a video was taken in a particular place include uniforms of individuals in the video, license plates, accents, flags, and the text on storefronts and street signs. Online communities can be helpful when seeking localized expertise. FROM THE FIELD USING MAPS TO GEO-LOCATE A VIDEO Example 1: Blogger Brown Moses used satellite photos in Google Maps to geo-locate a video of a woman being shot7 during a protest in Rabaa, Egypt. Example 2: This video case study8 shows how Amnesty International researchers used Google Earth to geo-locate a video depicting likely violations of international humanitarian law in Aleppo, Syria. 174 VIDEO AS EVIDENCE: VERIFYING EYEWITNESS VIDEO V 2.0 SHARING To verify that the video was taken in an alleged location, use satellite images, maps, and other photos or videos taken in that location to corroborate that it was indeed filmed there. The following are some helpful resources: