Modified Australian news stories have been used in Facebook posts to promote mobile gambling applications. Reportedly, videos posted on the social media platform and viewed tens of thousands of times showed altered Nine News reports regarding mobile gambling apps which, according to the information in these reports, have turned gamblers into millionaires.
The reports, however, are not genuine. As a spokesperson for Nine News officially revealed, the Facebook videos depicted altered versions of genuine news reports of the media hub without authorisation.
One of the Facebook posts included a 38-second video featuring a “How to earn AU$25,000,000? The new best mobile app in Australia” banner in what seemed a genuine news report by Nine News media hub. The video was posted on September 14th, 2022 on a Malaysia-based Facebook page and has been viewed over 27,000 times. The fake news video shows what appears to be a person winning some money on a mobile scratch card application, with a voiceover claiming that “more than 10,000 people [have] become millionaires”. The post using an altered Australia’s Nine News report calls for viewers to install the “Mayan Diamonds” mobile gambling application from Apple’s App Store.
Image credit: AFP
A similar video was published by a Ukraine-based Facebook page but instead of promoting the aforementioned scratch card app, the video depicted a person appearing to win money from the “Pharaoh’s Slinger” mobile slot machine application. The video has more than 17,000 views. The good thing is that, considering the comments below the post, many users seem to have realised that the video was a fake news report.
Image credit: AFP
Several Facebook Video Posts Show Altered Visuals of Nine News Media Hub
As mentioned above, a Nine Network spokesperson informed AFP that the aforementioned videos were deceptive and used the media hub’s intellectual property without authorisation. The media outlet representative explained that the videos are edited versions of actual Nine News reports featuring a couple of the media’s newsreaders – Georgie Gardner and Peter Hitchener – with an added voiceover to specifically promote mobile gambling applications.
Apart from using parts of actual news reports, other clips used in the Facebook video posts seem to be cut from an unrelated YouTube video featuring Anacondaz, a Russian band. The purported news report featured a clip of one of the music band’s members with a child – imagery that was shared on the band’s own YouTube channel. There is also another clip that appears to show a person interviewed in regard to winning AU$25,000,000 through a mobile gambling app in Australia, but it actually depicts a band member being interviewed.
Image credit: AFP
The genuine news report was used by the creators of the fake Facebook video without Nine News’ permission. The media hub report, which starts with a short introduction from Hitchener, tells about a man who won AU$80 million in the Powerball lottery in Australia.
In comparison, the altered video, understandably, does not feature the actual newsreader’s voice when Mr Hitchener says the words “lottery” and “Powerball”. The rest of the genuine news report is also substituted with different visuals, with the misleading Facebook video also using a voiceover.
- Author
Daniel Williams
