Summary: Subtitles added to content to support viewers in understanding what was said by an individual can misrepresent what was said, which is difficult for viewers to detect when watching a speaker of another language, or videos without an audio track.
To make this assertion, analysts need to confirm that what was said was meaningfully different to the subtitles provided for the speech (i.e. not nit-picking minor translation issues, but changes which make changes to the context of what was said).
Analysts may require bilingual speakers to identify mistranslations. They can also search for the original media to search for original subtitles.
Tactic: TA14 Develop Narratives
Parent Technique: T0162 Reframe Context
| Associated Technique | Description |
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| Incident | Descriptions given for this incident |
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| I00168 Video does not show a Palestinian woman saying ‘we’re prisoners of Hamas’ | Fake subtitles have been added to footage circulating on social media to suggest a Palestinian woman said in Arabic “we are prisoners of Hamas”. However, this is not a correct translation. (T0162.001: Incorrect Subtitled Speech Reframes Context) The video shows a woman speaking in Arabic to someone behind the camera. Overlaid text says in English: “Watch this courageous Palestinian woman saying the truth”, while text in Arabic says: “One woman worth a thousand men” (translated by Google). According to the subtitles, the woman is explaining how Hamas forced her to “stay” and threatened to “slaughter” her if she tried to escape. She supposedly says: “We’re prisoners of Hamas. I prefer the Jews.” One post sharing the video on X (formerly Twitter) says: “Imagine @IDF actually frees them from HAMAS and the internet flooded with these videos of people who were opressed by hamas but were afraid to complain because of the deathrape. Imagine then that the Gaza will actually start to thrive after Isreal intervention…Thankyou @IDF for saving these people. [sic]” However, freelance fact checker, Arwa Kooli, confirmed to Full Fact that the subtitles are not a correct translation (T0160.002: Information is False). Ms Kooli said the woman is actually speaking about searching for her son and recognising his body because of the belt. |
| Counters | Response types |
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