On July 31 and August 1, 2023, Georgian (1) and Russian-speaking Facebook users (1, 2, 3) shared videos and photos of an alleged banner with the following inscription in English: “Stop Zelenskyy, Stop War.” According to the posts, this banner was placed in Japan.
The disseminated video is altered, while the original video was shot in October 2020, and the advertisement on the banner has nothing to do with the Russia-Ukraine war. In addition, the Japanese government issued a pro-Ukraine statement in June 2023, and there is no evidence that an anti-Ukrainian electronic billboard was placed in Japan.
The video was shot at night and lasts for 12 seconds. Footage shows people crossing the street while the sentence “Stop Zelenskyy, Stop War” is flashing on the electronic billboard. The exact location of the billboard is not specified in the social media posts, but Facebook users say that the video was shot in Japan. A Google Lens search of a still from the video reveals that the location is located in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Reading the inscriptions on the buildings (“Bic Camera”, “Taito Station”) allows us to determine the exact location of the banner.
By typing the words: Bic Camera Shibuya, Taito Station Shibuya into the Google search engine, we can accurately understand that the banner shown in the video is located on a building near the local train station in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, which is also confirmed by the street view uploaded to Google Maps in October 2022.
While searching for the keywords: “bic camera, shibuya, nigth” on YouTube, the system suggests several videos of walking around Shibuya at night. Among them is a video uploaded in October 2020 that has more than eight million views. The video titled “Night Walk in Tokyo Shibuya (東京散歩)” was published by the YouTube channel VIRTUAL JAPAN. The footage in the YouTube video at 21:18 is exactly the same as the video circulating on the social network, although there is one difference: in the original version of the YouTube video, instead of the inscription “Stop War, Stop Zelenskyy” on the billboard, we see a woman on the advertising banner. The similarity of the videos is confirmed by comparing individual frames. For instance, In the original video, the person taking the footage walks through the zebra crossing, at which point the same people, vehicles, and buildings are seen in both videos.
The comparison of these shots makes it clear that in the authentic video, two women are captured on the advertising billboard, although the image changes several times, and images of different women appear at random.
The altered video was initially published on Twitter and was verified by a number of fact-checking portals (Newsweek, factcheck.afp, reuters). It is also worth noting that the Japanese government issued a statement on June 23, 2023, stressing that Japan continues to stand by Ukraine. There is also no evidence to prove that any anti-Ukrainian message was placed on any banner in Japan.
Notably, in June 2023, social network users claimed that a banner with the inscription: “No Zelensky, No war” was placed on Fifth Avenue in New York. Actually, the video was altered as well, as the original version of the video was shot before the start of the war.
For more information on the topic, see the article prepared by “Myth Detector.”
About the Source
Disinformation disseminated by the Facebook account “Nero Nero” has been debunked by “Myth Detector” in the past as well. The user publishes fake news, as well as visual manipulations regarding the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
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