Update Nov. 14, 1:48pm CT: This story has been updated to reflect the likely falsification of the “Stand with Ukraine” ad, reported in a fact check by Reuters on Tuesday.
A video of an advertisement that looks to be in New York City’s Times Square showing the text “Stand With Israel” stomping on and replacing the text “Stand With Ukraine” is circulating the internet. The video, which is purportedly fake, shows the ad close with the ABC News logo.
Yesterday, a video was posted on X purporting to show an ad on a screen in Times Square with white text on a black background that says “Stand With Ukraine” being pushed out and eventually replaced by the text “Stand with Israel.”
A panel next to the text shows the Ukrainian flag morphing into the Israeli flag. The final shot in the video of the ad shows the same white text on a black background stating “Watch the News,” “Stay on Trend,” and the ABC News logo.
“Advertising in New York,” X user @WizardSX0 wrote in their original post of the video. “The text ‘Support Israel’ squeezes out the text ‘Support Ukraine.'”
On Tuesday, @WizardSX0’s video had been viewed over 7.5 million times on X. However, the ad shown is not an official ABC News ad, and users say the video seems doctored.
Advertising in New York… The text “Support Israel” squeezes out the text “Support Ukraine pic.twitter.com/twbPJzRAxQ
— W i z a r d S X (@WizardSX0) November 13, 2023
Jack Werner, an author with expertise in source verification, tweeted yesterday that the video “seems completely fake.”
Werner also tweeted that the ad was not shown in public Snapchat stories of Times Square posted on the day that it showed up on Telegram. An account bearing a Russian flag in its username posted the images on the platform on Nov. 9, decrying ABC News and calling into question the proximity of a pro-Israel statement to an ad for Trolls.
In a fact check posted on Tuesday, Reuters confirmed that the video is fabricated. According to a statement made to Reuters, the company managing the unit denied all claims that such an ad exists or has ever been shown on one of their screens.
The most popular responses to the video were about the PR tactics Israel has employed in its effort to appeal to the global community throughout the last month since declaring war against Hamas and beginning a bombing campaign against Palestinian civilians.
“Even Ukraine ads got Israeled,” an X user tweeted. The term “Israeled” is defined on Urban Dictionary as “taking something that is not yours and then kicking out the rightful owner.”
“Israeli PR team is filled with trolls,” another person responded, in reference to the Trolls movie ad that is seen below the fake ABC News spot.
Other replies state that U.S. citizens are being brainwashed with propaganda into supporting the same countries that the country’s government funds. While there has been wavering continued support for Ukraine among the U.S. public in recent months, there is a more obvious divide amongst the public when it comes to Israel and Palestine.
On Tuesday, “tens of thousands” of people are expected to attend a march for Israel, per CNN, and pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a ceasefire shut down New York City’s Grand Central Station on Friday.
ABC-owned television stations are a division of the Walt Disney Company, which has announced its support vocally and financially for Israel.
In response, many pro-Palestinian consumers have pledged to boycott the company and its subsidiaries.
Update 11:15am CT, Nov 15: In a statement to the Daily Dot, Werner said that “this is not the first, and definitely not the last, instance of fake billboard clips circulating on social media.”
“The clearest sign something was off was that no U.S. media what so ever had written about the supposed ad,” Werner told the Daily Dot. “If ABC News actually had a billboard in New York City this brazenly distasteful, you best believe it would have been big news.”
