The Russian invasion of Ukraine led to a flood of news, memes and videos on social media and the internet. However, the fact that not every news is true was also struck in our face.
An image circulating on social media shows an eBay listing for sale of a $400,000 Russian tank seized in Ukraine. Urban legends site Snopes researched the story behind the ad and revealed that the tank photo has been on the internet for over a decade.
Snopes linked a photo of the same tank to a 2010 post on the DefenseTalk.com website, saying, “Although this photo appears to show a Russian T-72 tank, this image has been online since at least 2010.” .
Snopes, who said he sent an e-mail to eBay about the ad, states that the ad was then removed.
As Reuters reported, the Ukrainians did indeed destroy some Russian tanks, and the country also confiscated some Russian tanks used in the invasion attempt. However, nobody sells these tanks on the internet.
In a video released by British MP Johnny Mercer, tractors pulling Russian tanks are seen. Snopes says the source cannot be verified for this video either.
In short, it is useful to approach the news and images circulating on the internet with suspicion, as always. In order to prevent the spread of fake news, it would be much more logical to wait for an image or news you see to be verified before sharing it.
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