Social media packed with fake images of Aussie bush fires: Report
Tiger burns in Australia's bush fire? It is a 2012 photo from Indonesia.
Young girl rescues koala? It is an artist's impression.
Social media is packed with powerful images of Australia's bush fires - but many are fake.
As deadly blazes tear across south-eastern Australia, false or deliberately misleading images and claims have proliferated online, in languages from Arabic to Hindi.
Tiger tiger, burning bright
A graphic photo that appears to show a tiger being devoured by flames has been shared tens of thousands of times in Facebook posts decrying the deaths of millions of animals in the deadly bush fires.
Some estimates do indeed put the death toll from the blazes at nearly half a billion animals. But the image is actually a 2012 photograph of a taxidermied tiger burned by the Indonesian authorities during a crackdown on wildlife smuggling.
Young girl saves koala?
An image of a young girl in a gas mask clutching a koala in front of a giant wall of flames and smoke has been shared tens of thousands of times in Instagram and Facebook posts that claim it is a real photograph.
But the image was actually created by artist Thuie.
Kangaroo rescue?
Two viral videos showing women cuddling a kangaroo have been viewed tens of thousands of times in social media posts that claim they show the aftermath of a bush-fire animal rescue.
The videos were actually filmed at a kangaroo sanctuary in Australia's Northern Territory, which has not been affected by bush fires.
Fresh rainfall brings firefighters joy?
A video of Australian firefighters celebrating in the rain was viewed millions of times online after being tweeted by British newspaper The Sun on Monday.
But the video was actually filmed in November last year, according to the fire brigade which originally posted the footage on Facebook.
Family flees fire
A dramatic photo of a woman and five children half-immersed in water next to a jetty under a bright orange, smoke-filled sky has been shared repeatedly on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, in posts that claim "this is happening in Australia right now". But the photo was actually taken in 2013. - AFP
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