Did an angel spread its wings and fly into the sky above Gaza on November 12, 2023, as shown in a video on TikTok? No, that's not true: The original video was uploaded months earlier by another TikTok creator who has made dozens of videos using computer-generated imagery, often showing shapes in the form of angels, hands held in prayer or animals appearing in clouds.
The claim reappeared as a video (archived here) on TikTok on November 12, 2023, with a caption (translated from Serbian to English by Lead Stories staff) that read:
Filmed in Gaza 12.11.23
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Nov 13 21:29:06 2023 UTC)
The video starts with men running outside a barber shop before it cuts to a clip showing an orange sky and a hand pointing at what appears to be an angel in the clouds.
Lead Stories found the original viral video (archived here) was uploaded on January 27, 2023. Viewed more than 154 million times, it was created by a user called myuz_gaza1. The user often shows forms that appear to be angels in the sky, sometimes showing the same clip of people running out of a barber shop and pointing at the shape, such as this video from September 30, 2023.
(Source: Lead Stories-generated collage of TikTok screenshots taken on Mon Nov 13 22:34:12 2023 UTC)
The user has also created multiple videos of clouds in the shape of two hands praying such as this video (archived here) from October 2, 2023, and this video (archived here) from October 22, 2023.
(Source: Lead Stories-generated collage of TikTok screenshots taken on Mon Nov 13 22:49:02 2023 UTC)
myuz_gaza1 has also created images in clouds in the form of animals such as this video of a lion from October 30, 2023, and this video of a galloping horse (archived here) from October 5, 2023.
(Source: Lead Stories-generated collage of TikTok screenshots taken on Tue Nov 14 06:33:14 2023 UTC)
The common theme of the videos is to show people pointing at the sky before shapes appear in the clouds. The videos are misleading since they do not disclose that the clips are manipulated in violation of TikTok's community guidelines that state:
Synthetic or manipulated media that shows realistic scenes must be clearly disclosed. This can be done through the use of a sticker or caption, such as 'synthetic', 'fake', 'not real', or 'altered'.
