Thread by @LorandBodo

Videos of brick piles near protest sites are circulating on socials, pushing a narrative that they were "put their on purpose to escalate violence".

If u see any of these, please DM them to me. We @NBC_VC are currently looking into these and debunking them one by one #OSINT

Thanks to everyone who sent me more examples! My DMs are still open.

In the meantime, let's have a look at some of these claims.

I start with this one, which was widely shared on Twitter. It claims "the gov is trying to set people up"

Let's start with the basics and geolocate it first. This might offer additional clues to get to the bottom of this.

From those images, two details stand out: "Dallas" (police car) AND "Tom Thumb"

When searching for "Tom Thumb in Dallas", I got this on Google Maps:

Next, I went through the first entries and found the location: google.co.uk/maps/@32.78959…

When comparing Google Street view with the one in the Tweet, you can clearly see it matches

To see if all images are from the same location, we can use Google Earth to find visual references.

Here's how the car park in front of Tom Thumb matches the images in the Tweet.

Now that we know the location, I searched for the original source. This can be tricky.

After a couple of targeted keyword searches, I found the origin with more info & additional photos. For various reasons, I will refrain from sharing the link.

After analysing the post and comments, we can conclude that the photos documented the removal of those bricks rather than placing and prepping the bricks as claimed otherwise.

So why were they there in the first place?

Google Maps Street view from February 2020 offers an interesting insight. It shows the piles of bricks at the same location and when moving further down the street, there's an actual construction site.

H/T @rickfable:

https://twitter.com/rickfable/status/1267607786885611522

We @NBC_VC are still investigating these claims. Without a doubt, bricks are being used in violent clashes, but making false claims doesn't help the situation

Another example. The tweet suggests the pile was left there for riots.

However, AP NEWS fact-checked this for us: apnews.com/afs:Content:89…

The truth is bricks were left there for a construction project in the neighbourhood.

More info by @FriscoPD:

https://twitter.com/FriscoPD/status/1267499426689548290

This video is a tough one! It actually shows police men unloading bricks at an undisclosed location.

This Tweet here has almost 3M views & over 30k shares!

So where was it taken?

Geolocating this image without any additional info seemed impossible. When searching for the origin, I was able to narrow it down and using #GoogleMaps I geolocated it to this place.

It's important to note that the StreetView image I use is from Aug 2019

It's important because some features are not visible in the video.

However, those that are provide an exact match.

So where did the police unload these bricks?

At the back of the Northeastern University Police Department (red circle). Not a random alley/street.

Here’s a brief write up of our main findings (ht @_Matthew_Price)

https://twitter.com/inglesi/status/1267898022144466945?s=21

We @NBC_VC continue to analyse these videos. If you come across any please send them my way

✌️cheers

https://twitter.com/inglesi/status/1267898022144466945

Another example is this video here with almost 150k views.

@SFPD have confirmed that these pallets belong to a construction site (link:

https://twitter.com/SFPD/status/1267673784271507458

)

For other debunked examples see this article by @BuzzFeedNews:

https://twitter.com/buzzfeednews/status/1267965469480411138?s=21

Includes examples that I mentioned above but also others.

https://twitter.com/buzzfeednews/status/1267965469480411138

Here it is. Our latest investigation into 'piles of bricks gone viral'. If you come across more videos, please send it to us @nbc_vc or DM me:

https://twitter.com/NBC_VC/status/1268258644271005697