On June 18, 2023, claims began to spread on Twitter that a video showed "incomprehensible military activity" in the U.S.
"In the United States, incomprehensible military activity …," a Twitter account posted on June 18, 2023. Attached to the post was a video claiming to show numerous tanks and other military equipment on a railroad track.
?? In the United States, incomprehensible military activity .. pic.twitter.com/2e3VDLG5fU
— Sprinter (@Sprinter99880) June 18, 2023
We found other, unrelated posts that spread claims about the video on Twitter. At the time of this writing, we found no such claims on any other social platform.
The video did not show U.S. military equipment, however, but rather Canadian Armed Forces vehicles being sent back to their base. We found the original video used in the Twitter posts indicating it was shot in Canada. We also found it posted on TikTok on June 13, 2023, captioned, "100s of Tanks Show Up in Montreal Quebec!"
100s of Tanks Show Up in Montreal Quebec!
When we reached out to the Canadian Department of National Defence to confirm the equipment was Canadian, a spokesperson told us:
"These are Canadian Armed Forces vehicles, returning from a large Canadian military exercise called MAPLE RESOLVE, in Wainwright, Alberta. This is a standard, annual military exercise. The vehicles are travelling by train, returning to Canadian Forces Base in Valcartier, QC."
As such, we rate the claim that the video showed heavy military equipment in the U.S. as "Miscaptioned."