Social media users have shared a video that they claim shows a meteor falling into the Baltic Sea near Germany. Contrary to this claim, the video does not show an actual meteor strike; it was created by a visual effects artist.
The video shows an object crashing into the sea causing an explosion that sends a blast wave across the water to the shore.
It has been widely shared on Facebook (here) and Twitter (here), (here) with the caption: “Meteor hits the Baltic Sea? August 2022 in Germany”.
Reuters found that a visual effects artist, Elias Willnat, originally shared the clip on Instagram (here) as well as on YouTube in August 2022 (bit.ly/3Vm7DRN).
On Instagram, Willnat has replied to comments to reassure users the video is computer-generated and is not real.
Willnat also clearly mentions on YouTube that the video was created using design software After Effects and Davinci Resolve.
VERDICT
Missing context. A visual effects artist created the video.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here (here).
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