The message which says opening the 'Argentina is doing it' video hacks your phone is a Hoax - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 18, 2020
A viral post warning people not to open a video file on WhatsApp titled ‘Argentina is doing it’ is going around social media.  The message claims that opening the video would hack the phone within 10 seconds. The message also claims that the video is about Argentina flattening the COVID-19 curve. It is further claimed that CNN also warned users about such a message.  Let’s fact-check the post through this article.
Do not open the video file titled ‘Argentina is doing it’ as it would hack the phone in 10 seconds. CNN also warned users about this hoax.
Fact: Similar message claiming that they would hack one’s phone were circulated before. Multiple fact-checkers have debunked those messages as a hoax in the past.  The Spanish police back in 2017 also debunked it as fake. Hence the claim is FALSE.
When we ran a search on google with the keywords ‘Argentina is Doing It’, numerous fact-checking articles confirming the viral message as a hoax popped up. Also when we searched on the CNN website about such a warning, we found nothing.
A similar viral message with the name ‘Martinelli’ had gone viral back in 2017. Spanish police officials had tweeted debunking it as a hoax in 2017. This message was similar the one going viral currently except that the name of the video in the 2017 message was ‘Martinelli’. The rest of the message was the same.
Circula por #WhatsApp📱 este mensaje advirtiendo sobre el "vídeo de Martinelli"👉🏻#Stopbulos, ✋🏻no lo compartas https://t.co/TtAb0aYNUE pic.twitter.com/R4aOovWAo3
Multiple fact-checking websites like Boomlive and Snopes have debunked the viral post earlier.
To sum it up, an old viral hoax is now being circulated with a different video name. Also, CNN has warned users about any such video.
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