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Twisted timeline
Moving real events to another time so they seem to mean something else.
In our replies we call it: Twists the timeline
What it means
Everything in it really happened, but not when the Reel says. Aid sent years after an attack is described as coming "just months after" it; a decision made by one government is placed under the next; a reaction is shown as if it came before the event it answered. Change the dates and the story changes.
How to spot it in a Reel
- "Just months after", "right after" or "immediately" with no date given
- Old announcements, quotes or documents shown without their date
- A sequence of events where the order is what makes the point
Examples
- A Reel says a country gave aid to a rival "just months after" an attack, when the aid was disaster relief announced nearly two years later.
- A Reel credits or blames a leader for a decision taken before they came to power.
Why it doesn't hold up
When something happened is part of what it means. Check the date of each event before accepting the story the order tells.
What to say back
"When exactly did each of these happen?"
Questions
How is a twisted timeline different from recycled footage?
Recycled footage passes off an old video as a new event. A twisted timeline gets the dates of real events wrong, with or without a video.
Reels we checked that used it
Check a Reel for this trick
Send any Reel to @checkthis.chat on Instagram. If it uses this trick, the reply names it and shows where it happens.
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