A viral video on Twitter falsely claims that U.S. military pilots are abandoning their planes because President Joe Biden is requiring all federal employees to be vaccinated against the deadly COVID-19 virus that has killed over 600,000 Americans.
The claim was debunked by CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale.
A Department of Defense spokesperson, Charlie Dietz, says the Defense Secretary “has never sent any kind of force-wide text message” and that “we have no awareness of any kind of Air Force pilot walk-off.”
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 10, 2021
The man in the video was identified as Instagram user justinyodonnell by journalist Jane Lytvynenko.
This vid came from the Stories of Insta account "justinyodonnell" who today posted another Story noting Reuters fact-checked his F-22 pilot claim.
— Jane Lytvynenko (@JaneLytv) September 10, 2021
He also posts quotes from himself and promotes products for purchase. At this point the vid has millions of views across platforms. https://t.co/fUgCMkxXTQ
(Source: Twitter)