India TV Fact Check: A peculiar video is making rounds on social media. The video claimed that a giant octopus was spotted in a parking area causing damage to luxurious cars parked there. According to the viral clip, the marine mollusk (octopus) was spotted in Qatar. But when we fact-checked this video, it turned out to be computer-generated.
What is making rounds on social media?
A user named Manish Kumar has shared this video on Facebook. "Believe it or not... in Qatar from the sea to the nearest car park," the caption accompanying the video, posted on October 4, 2023, reads in English. The same video has been shared on Facebook by another user named Tarakdas Ghosh and the same caption has been written in it.
This video is going viral on social media
In the 17-second video, many vehicles were seen in the parking area and then an octopus swarmed up on a white Land Rover SUV. The car window broke down soon the octopus sat on it. The video shows how the octopus caused damage to the car.
India TV did fact check
When we saw this video, for a moment we also felt that this video was real. After carefully watching the video, we noticed something fishy in the number plate of the car. A bizarre text was written on the number plate. When we zoomed in, we saw that "@ghost3dee" was written on it.
Something fishy was found on the number plate
After this, we searched "@ghost3dee" on Google. Results showed some Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube channels related to it. We first checked its X handle. The X handle suggested that the person is a VFX artist.
The VFX artist had pinned the video of an octopus on his Twitter handle. This video was posted on 25 September. The caption of this video said, "When you park wrong, a giant octopus comes and crushes your car." By now it was clear that this video was not real but was made by VFX and we also found the artist who made it.
This is how the video of octopus was made
Now we took the investigation further and went to the YouTube channel of @ghost3dee and found this recently uploaded video of an octopus here. This was the VFX breakdown version of the viral video. The artist in the video was heard instructing the viewers on how he created the VFX clip.
What came out in the fact check?
When we fact-checked this video, it turned out to be a VFX video. We also found out the VFX artist who created this video and how it was given a shape.
