Last updated on July 20th, 2026
Editor’s Note
On June 24, 2026, two powerful earthquakes measuring magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela’s Yaracuy State, causing widespread casualties and infrastructure damage. In the days following the disaster, a video showing multiple red beams sweeping across the night sky was widely circulated on X, TikTok and YouTube. Some social media posts associated the footage with the earthquake, suggesting that the disaster was not a natural geological activity. This report examines the origin of the circulating video, compares it with available evidence, and reviews geological and scientific information related to the earthquake.
Claim
On June 29, 2026, X users circulated a video showing red beams above clouds at night. @Real_JFK_Jr_ claimed the footage was taken just before the Venezuela earthquake and depicted lasers scanning the ground, while @uBF2fV1cVQxRjQo further alleged that the quake was not a natural phenomenon. The two posts exceeded 2.9 million views.
Fact Check
1. Source Verification
Reverse image and video searches using the Invid tool reveal that the circulating video is a montage assembled from four independent segments. All original clips were posted by the same TikTok account @archive.available between February and April 2026 — months before the Venezuela earthquake occurred.
0:00–0:12 segment: Posted on March 18, 2026, with the caption: “Multiple beams converging across the cloud layer tonight. CASE 058 logged. Has anyone seen something like this before?” The video carries tags including UFO, UAP, unexplained, and strange sky.
0:12–0:21 segment: Posted on February 12, 2026, with the caption: “It wasn’t in the distance this time. It was over the town.”
0:22–0:28 segment: Posted on April 20, 2026, with the caption: “UFO Orb Moving Through Cloud Layer – CASE 091 Logged.”
0:28–0:41 segment: Posted on March 10, 2026, with the caption: “Red flame pulses moving across the cloud layer tonight. CASE 050 logged. Anyone else seen something like this?”
2. Timeline Verification
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the 7.2-magnitude foreshock occurred at 22:04 UTC on June 24, followed 39 seconds later by the 7.5-magnitude mainshock. This corresponds to 18:04 and 18:05 local time in Yaracuy. Sunset in Yaracuy state on June 24, 2026, was recorded at 19:00 local time, meaning both earthquakes struck before nightfall.
Satellite imagery released by Venezuelan outlet 2001online.com and on-the-ground witness footage shared by X user @TuiteroSismico both confirm daylight conditions at the time of the seismic events — contradicting the fully dark nighttime scene depicted in the circulating video.
3. Visual Analysis
The frame-by-frame review identified visual anomalies that are not clearly consistent with real-world lighting. However, these may also be associated with compression artifacts or other recording factors.
1) In multiple scenes, rooftops and architectural structures exhibit localized distortions that appear consistent with patterns often associated with generative image synthesis.
2) Also, the red beams fail to illuminate their surroundings—a feature that would be expected if such intense light sources were present in a real-world setting.
3) Likewise, the cloud layer does not appear to interact with the beams in a realistic manner. Under atmospheric conditions, one would expect scattering, shadows, or volumetric lighting effects—yet none are visible; the red columns pass through the clouds with no observable impact on their appearance.
4. AI Detection Tool Analysis
Separate analysis conducted via TruthScan and Tencent Matrix detection tools yielded divergent results. On the Tencent Matrix platform, all four segments were flagged as consistent with synthetically generated content. TruthScan, however, identified only two of the four segments as highly probable AI-generated content, the remaining two did not yield definitive results from that tool.
5. Geological Cause of the Earthquake
According to CMG Global News Radio, Sergio Barrientos, director of the National Seismological Center at the University of Chile, explained that the affected region sits along the boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates. The plates shift eastward relative to each other by approximately 2 centimeters per year, gradually accumulating tectonic stress. When the crust can no longer withstand the pressure, fault rupture occurs along the plate interface, triggering earthquakes. The dual seismic events on June 24 follow this established tectonic mechanism.
6. Account Analysis
The TikTok account @archive.available hosts numerous similar red-laser sky clips with no consistent filming location or verifiable real-event context. The account’s profile links to an external material archive website that collects various “unusual sky activity” footage, accompanied by the explicit disclaimer: “Nothing is presented as fact or theory.”
7. Dissemination analysis
The earliest known clips of the footage surfaced on TikTok between February and April 2026, posted by @archive.available and tagged as “UFO,” “UAP,” or “strange sky,” with no reference to any earthquake.
On June 29, multiple X accounts—including @Real_JFK_Jr_, @uBF2fV1cVQxRjQo, and @Dr_Utaybi—claimed the lasers had scanned the ground moments before the quake and that the disaster was not a natural disaster.
The video then spread to YouTube (via @Tales From Out There) and TikTok (via @cristopher_esther), where a contradictory claim emerged—that the beams appeared after the earthquake.
Background
According to Science Popularization China (Kepu China), earthquake lights — luminous phenomena observed before or during seismic events — have been documented in multiple earthquakes. They appear in a range of colors including red, yellow, blue, white, and purple, and take varied forms such as banded, sheet-like, spherical, columnar, and flame-like emissions. By contrast, the circulating video repeatedly shows nearly uniform vertical red columns with similar shapes, brightness and spacing.
Verdict
False.
Conclusion
Currently available evidence does not substantiate the claim that the viral footage of red beams above nighttime clouds depicts the moments preceding the June 24, 2026 earthquake in Venezuela.
Source verification shows the circulating video is a compilation of four unrelated TikTok clips from February–April 2026, months before the earthquake. The nighttime setting is inconsistent with the earthquake’s verified timing, which occurred about an hour before sunset in daylight. Geological and seismic evidence, along with expert analysis, attributes the earthquake to natural plate rupture along the Caribbean–South American boundary. Technical analysis suggests the footage was likely AI-generated. When encountering claims related to natural disasters, members of the public are advised to cross-reference information from multiple sources and exercise caution before sharing unverified content.
Have a questionable video or claim? Submit it to Fact Hunter’s investigation team at [therealfacthunter@outlook.com].
Primary Fact Checker: Han Yiming
Secondary Fact Checker: Fang Xiaodong
