Viral CGI Video of Floating Cars Misattributed as Real Footage from Dubai

A new video from Dubai is going popular on social media. It shows several expensive cars floating around on inflatable pool floats in a flooded city.

Background: On April 16, 2018, Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates experienced heavy rain that felt like flooding.

What’s the truth?: This video isn’t real; it was made with VFX.

It’s being spread wrongly as a new picture from the floods in Dubai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Vertex Official (@vertex.cgi)

How did we find out the truth?: We used Google’s reverse picture search to find an Instagram post from April 18, 2024, that was shared by an account called Megazettes.

The video looked like the well-known video, and credit was made to an account called “Vertex.cgi.”

“Viral Content Campaigns, VFX” is written in the account’s bio, and the name itself refers to computer-generated images.

The video had 97.5 million views and 1.5 million likes at the time this story was written.

The account also had a number of other CGI films of brand ads in public places.

There was information on their website that said this business makes creative, animated ads for brands.

We also talked to the company, and they told us that this movie was made with computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Conclusion: A fake video of cars floating in a flooded city is being linked to the flooding in Dubai.