#FactCheck - Philadelphia Plane Crash Video Falsely Shared as INS Vikrant Attack on Karachi Port

Executive Summary:

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A viral video claiming the crash site of Air India Flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad has misled many people online. The video has been confirmed not to be from India or a recent crash, but was filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood on a TV or movie set meant to look like a plane crash set piece for a movie.

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Claim:

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A video that purportedly shows the wreckage of Air India Flight AI-171 after crashing in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, has circulated among social media users. The video shows a large amount of aircraft wreckage as well as destroyed homes and a scene reminiscent of an emergency, making it look genuine.

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Fact check:

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In our research, we took screenshots from the viral video and used reverse image search, which matched visuals from Universal Studios Hollywood. It became apparent that the video is actually from the most famous “War of the Worlds" set, located in Universal Studios Hollywood. The set features a 747 crash scene that was constructed permanently for Steven Spielberg's movie in 2005. We also found a YouTube video. The set has fake smoke poured on it, with debris scattered about and additional fake faceless structures built to represent a scene with a larger crisis. Multiple videos on YouTube here, here, and here can be found from the past with pictures of the tour at Universal Studios Hollywood, the Boeing 747 crash site, made for a movie.

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The Universal Studios Hollywood tour includes a visit to a staged crash site featuring a Boeing 747, which has unfortunately been misused in viral posts to spread false information.

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While doing research, we were able to locate imagery indicating that the video that went viral, along with the Universal Studios tour footage, provided an exact match and therefore verified that the video had no connection to the Ahmedabad incident. A side-by-side comparison tells us all we need to know to uncover the truth.

                                                                        

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Conclusion:

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The viral video claiming to show the aftermath of the Air India crash in Ahmedabad is entirely misleading and false. The video is showing a fictitious movie set from Universal Studios Hollywood, not a real disaster scene in India. Spreading misinformation like this can create unnecessary panic and confusion in sensitive situations. We urge viewers to only trust verified news and double-check claims before sharing any content online.

• Claim: Massive explosion and debris shown in viral video after Air India crash.‍
• Claimed On: Social Media‍
• Fact Check: False and Misleading

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Introduction

The European Union has fined the meta $ 1.3 billion for infringing the EU privacy laws by transferring the personal data of Facebook users to the United States. The EU fined Meta’s business in Ireland. As per the European Union, transferring Personal data to the US is a breach of the General data protection Regulation or European Union law on data protection and privacy.

GDPR Compliance

The terms of GDPR promise to gather users’ personal information legally and under strict conditions. And those who collect and manage personal data must protect users’ personal data from exploitation. The GDPR restricts an organisation’s capacity to transfer personal data outside the EU if the transfer is solely based on that body’s evaluation of the sufficiency of the personal data’s protection. Transfers should only be made where European authorities have determined that a third country, a territory within that third country, or an international organisation provides acceptable protection for data protection.

Violation by Meta

The punishment, announced by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, might be one of the most significant in the five years since the European Union passed the landmark General Data Protection Regulation. According to regulators, Facebook failed to comply with a 2020 judgment by the European Union’s top court that Facebook data transferred over the Atlantic was not sufficiently safeguarded from American espionage agencies. However, whether Meta will ever need to encrypt Facebook users’ data in Europe is still being determined. Meta announced it would appeal the ruling, launching a potentially legal procedure.

Simultaneously, European Union and American officials are negotiating a new data-sharing pact that would provide legal protections for Meta and scores of other companies to continue moving information between the US and Europe. This pact could overturn much of the European Union’s Monday ruling.

Article 46(1) GDPR Has been violated by the meta, And as per the Irish privacy.  

What is required by the GDPR before transferring personal information across national boundaries?

Personal data transfers to countries outside the European Economic Area are generally permitted if these nations are regarded to provide a sufficient degree of data protection. According to Article 45 of the GDPR, the European Commission evaluates the degree of personal data protection in third countries.

The European Union judgment demonstrates how government rules are upending the borderless way data has traditionally migrated. Companies are increasingly being pressed to store data within the country where it is acquired rather than allowing it to transfer freely to data centres around the world as a result of data-protection requirements, national security laws, and other regulations.

The US internet giant had previously warned that if forced to stop using SCCs (standard contractual clauses) without a proper alternative data transfer agreement in place, it would be compelled to shut down services such as Facebook and Instagram in Europe.

What will happen next for Facebook in Europe?

The ruling includes a six-month transition period before it must halt data flows, meaning the service will continue to operate in the meantime. (More specifically, Meta has been given a five-month transition period to freeze any future transfer of personal data to the United States and a six-month deadline to terminate the unlawful processing and/or storage of European user data it has previously transferred without a legitimate legal basis. Meta has also stated that it will appeal and appears to seek a stay of execution while it pursues its legal arguments in court.

Conclusion

The GDPR places restrictions on transferring personal data outside the European Union to third-party nations or international bodies to ensure that the GDPR’s level of protection for individuals is not jeopardised. But the meta violated the European Union’s privacy laws by the user’s personal information to the US. Under the compliance of GDPR, transferring and sending personal information to users intentionally is an offence. and presently, the personal data of Facebook users has been breached by the Meta, as they shared the information with the US.

Introduction

Social media has become integral to our lives and livelihood in today’s digital world. Influencers are now strong people who shape trends, views, and consumer behaviour. Influencers have become targets for bad actors aiming to abuse their fame due to their significant internet presence. Unfortunately, account hacking has grown frequently, with significant ramifications for influencers and their followers. Furthermore, the emergence of social media platforms in recent years has opened the way for influencer culture. Influencers exert power over their followers’ ideas, lifestyle choices, and purchase decisions. Influencers and brands frequently collaborate to exploit their reach, resulting in a mutually beneficial environment. As a result, the value of influencer accounts has risen dramatically, attracting the attention of hackers trying to abuse their potential for financial gain or personal advantage.

Instances of recent attacks

Places of worship

The hackers have targeted renowned temples for fulfilling their malicious activities the recent attack happened on The Khautji Shyam Temple, a famous religious institution with enormous cultural and spiritual value for its adherents. It serves as a place of worship, community events, and numerous religious activities. However, since technology has invaded all sectors of life, the temple’s online presence has developed, giving worshippers access to information, virtual darshans (holy viewings), and interactive forums. Unfortunately, this digital growth has also rendered the shrine vulnerable to cyber threats. The hackers hacked the Facebook page twice in the month, demanded donations and hacked the cheques the devotes gave to the trust. The second event happened by posting objectional images on the page and hurting the sentiments of the devotees. The Committee of the temple has filed an FIR under various charges and is also seeking help from the cyber cell.

Social media Influencers

Influencers enjoy a vast online following worldwide, but their presence is limited to the digital space. Hence every video, photo is of importance to them. An incident took place with leading news anchor and reporter Barkha Dutt, where in her youtube channel was hacked into, and all the posts made from the channel were deleted. The hackers also replaced the channel’s logo with Tesla and were streaming a live video on the channel featuring Elon Musk. A similar incident was reported by influencer Tanmay Bhatt, who also lost all the content e had posted on his channel. The hackers use the following methods to con social media influencers:

• Social engineering
• Phishing
• Brute Force Attacks

Such attacks on influencers can cause harm to their reputation, can also cause financial loss, and even lose the trust of the viewers or the followers who follow them, thus further impacting the collaborations.

Safeguards

Social media influencers need to be very careful about their cyber security as their prominent presence is in the online world. The influencers from different platforms should practice the following safeguards to protect themselves and their content better online

Secure your accounts

Protecting your accounts with passphrases or strong passwords is the first step. The best strategy for doing this is to create a passphrase, a phrase only you know. We advise choosing a passphrase with at least four words and 15 characters.

To further secure your accounts, you must enable multi-factor authentication in the second step.

To access your account, a hacker must guess your password and provide a second authentication factor (such as a face scan or fingerprint) that matches yours.

Be careful about who has access

Many social media influencers collaborate with a team to help generate and post content while building their personal brands.

This entails using team members who can write and produce material that influencers can share themselves, according to some of them. In these situations, the influencer is the only person who still has access to the account.

There are more potential weak spots when more people have access. Additionally, it increases the number of ways a password or account access could fall into the hands of a cybercriminal. Only some staff members will be as cautious about password security as you may be.

Stay up-to-date on the threats

What’s the most significant way to combat threats to computer security? Information.

Cybercriminals constantly adapt their methods. It’s crucial to stay informed about these threats and how they can be utilised against you.

But it’s not just threats. Social media platforms and other service providers are likewise changing their offerings to avoid these challenges.

Educate yourself to protect yourself. You can keep one step ahead of the hazards that cybercriminals offer by continuously educating yourself.

Preach cybersecurity

As influencers, cyber security should be preached, no matter your agenda.

This will also enable users to inculcate best practices for digital hygiene.

This will also boost the reporting numbers and increase population awareness, thus eradicating such bad actors from our cyberspace.

Acknowledge the risks

Keeping a blind eye will always hurt the safety aspects, as ignorance always causes issues.

Risks should be kept in mind while creating the digital routine and netiquette

Always inform your users of risk existing and potential risks

Monitor threats

After the acknowledgement, it is essential to monitor threats.

Active lookout for threats will allow you to understand the modus Operandi and the vulnerabilities to avoid criminals

Threats monitoring is also a basic netizens’ responsibility to ensure that the threats are reported as they emerge.

Interpret the data

All cyber nodal agencies release data and trends of cybercrimes, understand the trends and protect your vulnerabilities.

Data interpretation can lead to an early flagging of threats and issues, thus protecting the cyber ecosystem by and large.

Create risk profiles

All influencers should create risk profiles and backup profiles.

This will also help protect one’s data as it can be stored on different profiles.

Risk profiles and having a private profile are essential to safeguard the basic cyber interests of an influencer.

Conclusion

As we go deeper into the digital age, we see more technologies emerging, but along with them, we see a new generation of cyber threats and challenges. The physical, as well as the cyberspace, is now inter twinned and interdependent. Practising basic cyber security practices, hygiene, netiquette, and monitoring best practices will go a long way in protecting the online interests of the Influencers and will impact their followers to engage in best practices thus safeguarding the cyber ecosystem at large.