Claim: A TikTok video shows where stars, planets, and comets are seemingly falling into Ekiti State University (EKSU) premises.
Verdict: MISLEADING. The video is an illusion used as a form of amusement. It was created with a TikTok video effect named “Planets”.
Full Text
Ahmad Ajibola, a TikTok user with the handle “harjibix,” recently shared a video that displayed the stars and planets rolling down from the sky.
In the fifteen-second clip, accompanied by cries of distress, the user described the event as happening in an Ekiti state-based tertiary institution.
“What’s happening inside Ekiti State University,” the caption reads.
Since the video was posted on July 12, 2023, the clip has been shared and liked by 114 and 941 TikTok users, respectively. It has also generated opposing views among people. While many doubted the possibility of such an event, users still believed it to have happened.
An example is @aniekpenopeter, a sceptical user who claimed that the whole world would be affected if such a thing happened. Contrarily, @ajalaseun711 believed the narrative and asked what day it happened.
Amidst the ongoing debate, a user privately contacted DUBAWA via WhatsApp for verification, prompting us to investigate the assertion.
Verification
DUBAWA contacted Ekiti State University (EKSU) students, who outrightly debunked the possibility of such an occurrence in their school.
According to Oluwaferanmi Omoniyi, a campus journalist and 500-level student of the Mechanical Engineering department, “something of such never happened.”
Similarly, Bademosi Adeyemi, a 300-level student from the Soil Resources and Environmental Science department who was in school on the said date, told DUBAWA that there was no such occurrence.
We also got the phone number of the claimant, Mr Ajibola, who was said to be a student of EKSU, but his number was unreachable.
After that, we examined the clip and suspected some filters could have been used to manipulate the video, which turned out to be true.
What to know about TikTok visual effects
TikTok is a social media platform where users create and share short-form mobile videos, “which often feature music in the background.” Common among young people, this platform is also famous for proclaiming trends through singing and dancing.
The TikTok app provides users with various filters and effects to customise and add details to videos. According to TikTok Help Centre, “effects can be added before and after you record a video, but some effects are only available before recording, and others are only available after.”
We also observed that on Mr Ajibola’s account, the hashtag “CreateWithEffects” and a type of video effect named “Planets” was used.
DUBAWA’s researcher clicked on the aspect with the music icon with the inscription, “original sound,” and a catalogue where similar TikTok effects and sound created by efya_dorothy have been used popped up.
Various captions like: “Kasao is coming to an end this morning,” “JESUS Enugu on fire,” and “The world is coming to an end” showed this effect has been used by various TikTok users from different regions, attempting to deceive their followers.
How does this effect work?
We tried out the effect to see how it works. A user must click on the part where “original sound is written” and follow the instruction “use this sound.” A user can then click and record his videos.
We also realised that the “Planets” effect can only work outdoors and with the rear camera.
Is TikTok a new home for misinformation?
From promoting misleading content to propagating fake stories, the presence of social media has been a growing concern to fighters of misinformation.
Although many of the manipulated videos on TikTok appear harmless, is that a fact?
In a 2022 interview with the New York Times, Henry Ajderz, an expert on manipulated and synthetic media, described the damage that manipulated videos on TikTok is causing as pervasive.
He said: “This kind of manipulation is only becoming more pervasive. When this content volume can be created so quickly, and at such a scale, it completely changes the landscape.”
Conclusion
Our findings revealed that this circulating video was created through a TikTok effect. It has no connection with any event in EKSU or anywhere in the world. The claim is, therefore, misleading.
