On 7 May, an X aka Twitter user shared a video of a fighter jet to escape the anti-aircraft fire. An extremely dynamic and action-pack video, it featured rapid maneuvers by flares, jets, thus a lot of projectiles flying. The video ends with a jet by a Sam (surface -to -air missile).

The caption on the video reads, “The video of Pakistani fighter jet was shot last night by the Indian Air Force near Pampore, Kashmir, India.” In less than 24 hours, that video watched 1.2 million times. The only problem with the video: This was a footage taken from a video game, most likely Arma 3.

Over the years, the ARMA games have become a de-facto destination to try to get some “war” footage for anyone. This is a game with realistic scenes, and as soon as some struggle breaks anywhere in the world, people flood social media with ARMA footage. As India and Pakistan are engaged in the latest struggle, ARMA footage is again on social media sites. But there is another factor: apart from disintegration – which can be used as part of “war fog” – this time around such materials also have the ability to earn quite decent money for those who are sharing these videos.

In fact, many videos that have gone viral from Indian and Pakistani X users in the last few days are clearly fake that it is easy to see why they have been shared. They have nothing to do with patriotism. Instead, they were possibly shared because they would go viral and then they would earn money for the person who shares them.

The defect is largely accompanied by a mudification policy that allows verified alias Blue Tick aka Paid X customers to earn money from engagement. The final payment at the end of a month depends on several factors but a large factor is the number of ideas. For example, an account that is viewed more than 15 million times a month, if you post an emotionally charged video during the conflict, it is quite easy, it can earn about Rs 7000 to Rs 15000.

It has increased mudlization policy-and patriotism-many of which are anonymous and are using AI-borne scenes, which pump stimulating material around geopolitics, knowing that India-Pakistan tension is guaranteed to draw attention to the subjects such as stress. In other words, this conflict is the busy business season for some X -affected, to some extent for retailers in Chandni Chowk like Diwali.

In addition to the videos where fighter jets are trying to dodge the fire, there are videos that show these aircraft issuing flarers and firing missiles. Then there are videos that show iron dome style air-defense, some are taken from earlier struggles while some are clearly created with cinematic scenes AI or CGI.

Fact-cakers including India’s official PIB Fact Czech unit have banned several viral videos. A clip claimed that a Pakistani attack had destroyed the post of an Indian Army, but the authorities confirmed that no such unit was present. Another video in which a Rafael Jet was allegedly shot, in fact, from the 2021 MiG -21 accident in Punjab, PIB said. A third, widely operated video, claiming that an Indian jet was shot near Budgam, was back in the 2019 Mi -17 V5 helicopter accident by the PIB Fact Czech unit. All these videos were shared out of the context, often edited with intensive music and emotional caption to run the engagement.

Nevertheless, the greed for money is such that X users, and some of which have tens of thousand followers, they do not want to stop and think. Instead, they are earning the web for the best looking struggle and war video and passing them as a clip from the India-Pakistan conflict.

So much so that the PIB Fact Check Unit has an alarm on it. Talking about a clip, shared by both Indian X -affected and Pakistanis, PIB mentioned on X: “Pakistan Publicity Warning! A video showing a heavy MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems) is shared as a real Pakistani attack on India.