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How to fact-check a video

Viral videos travel from WhatsApp to Instagram to X in hours, losing their date, place and context on the way. Most misleading videos are real footage with a false story attached. These steps work for a video from any app.

Step by step

  1. Pause before you share. If a video makes you angry or scared, that's the moment to check. Misleading videos are made to be shared before anyone thinks.
  2. Write down the claim. What exactly does the video, its caption or its text say happened: who, what, where, when? A video with no clear claim can't be checked, only felt.
  3. Find the first upload. Take a screenshot of a clear frame and search it with Google Lens. The oldest copy is usually closest to the truth about when and where it was filmed.
  4. Check the date and place. Look for signs, number plates, weather and language in the background. Old floods, protests and accidents are re-shared as new all the time.
  5. Watch what was cut. For a clip of someone speaking, find the full speech or interview on YouTube and watch what comes right before and after the clip.
  6. Search fact-checkers. Search the claim plus "fact check", and Google Fact Check Explorer. In India: BOOM, Alt News, Factly, Vishvas News, PIB Fact Check. In the US: PolitiFact, Snopes.
  7. Look for signs of AI or editing. Garbled text, odd hands, unnatural water or crowds, voices out of sync. See our guide to spotting AI-generated videos.
If the video is on Instagram, share it with @checkthis.chat: it does these steps for you and replies with the sources, the full original if the clip was cut, and the trick it uses.

Or let checkthis do it

Share the Reel with @checkthis.chat on Instagram. The answer comes back with sources, usually within a minute or two.

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Tricks to watch for

Out-of-context clip

Cutting a video so it seems to say something the full version doesn't.

Whataboutism

Answering a criticism by pointing at someone else's wrongs instead.

Accusing by question ("just asking questions")

Asking a loaded question to plant a claim it never has to prove.

Appeal to authority

Using someone's status instead of evidence.