Mount Semeru’s Viral Volcano Eruption Video Has Been Digitally Altered
The Claim
The video shows the recent Mount Semeru volcano eruption in Indonesia.
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Emerging story
A video of a volcano eruption went viral recently. Users claim it depicts the Mount Semeru volcano eruption in Indonesia.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar has investigated the claim and found it fake. The video is doctored as it contains waterfalls visuals in Indonesia and others of a volcano eruption in 2015 located in Chile.
The video was first uploaded to TikTok with a caption in Vietnamese reading: “Please use two words to describe this nature painting.”
After separating the keyframes from the viral video and conducting a Google Image Reverse Search, our team found that the waterfalls in the video are the Indonesian Tumpak Sewu waterfalls, and the base of the video is a photo of the Chilean eruption that was uploaded to many websites.
Description: The photo does not depict any waterfalls surrounding the volcano.
Although we could not find the artist who made the video, it is not related to the Mount Semeru eruption in Indonesia. The video contains images from the Chilean volcano and others from Tumpak Sewu waterfalls in Indonesia.
Description: The Tumpak Sewu Waterfalls do not appear on the original eruption image used to create the viral video.
According to the Associated Press, a sudden eruption of Mount Semeru in Indonesia caused clouds of hot ash in the sky, and an avalanche of lava swept as far as 11 kilometers last December. The report also mentioned that more than 100 people were hospitalized, while 22 villagers are still reported missing.
