Does a video show a real Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) or Emergency Alert System (EAS) notice broadcast in major cities across the United States in August 2026? No, that's not true: This video shows a prank that a young man pulled on his mother in 2024. The emergency alert playing on the family TV originated on YouTube in December 2022, with a disclaimer that it is a fictional story.
The video surfaced in a post (archived here) published by the @q17_patriots_1 account on X on Aug. 21, 2026. The post was captioned:
🚨🚨🚨 ALERT: THE EBS HAS GONE OFF IN THE USA ‼️‼️‼️
LOS ANGELES - CHICAGO - HOUSTON - PHOENIX - NEW YORK CITY - PHILADELPHIA - SEATTLE
SOMETHING BIG IS COMING ‼️‼️‼️
This is what a screenshot of the video in the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @q17_patriots_1 on X.)
The video shows a prank a son pulled on his mother. Playing on the TV in the family home is a fake Emergency Alert System (EAS) notice that was first published on YouTube on Dec. 13, 2022 (archived here).
The YouTube video opened with clips from NBC's Today -- including Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer -- before the fake EAS clip played. Lauer was fired by NBC on Nov. 29, 2017 (archived here). So even in 2022, the YouTube video had a clear clue that it was a hoax. The five-minute, 10-second video titled EAS Alien Invasion Simulation has a disclaimer in the description:
⚠️ The storyline/character in this video are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
The language included in the EAS is also unusual, reading more like science fiction than a real notice from the Department of Homeland Security. It said in part:
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS ISSUED A NATIONAL EMERGENCY
The U.S. Government has issued a National Emergency for the continental United States effective until 11:59 Ρ.Μ.
The following message is transmitted at the request of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
There have been multiple sightings of more than a dozen unidentified objects of unknown motive and origin that have landed across major population areas around the world.
These unidentified suspended objects are around 1,400 feet long, stone-like material of unknown nature; like that of a black oval stone, flattened in shape, resembling an enormous, obsidian concave lens.
The video of his mother falling for the hoax was uploaded by @toodirtydom on TikTok on June 17, 2024 (archived here). This video was captioned:
got her🤣🙌 #fyp
On the video is text captioning (pictured below) which reads:
I pranked my mom into thinking we are being invaded by aliens...
This is what a screenshot of the TikTok video looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @toodirtydom on TikTok.)
The video was republished (archived here) by @toodirtydom on Jan. 27, 2026, with the caption:
Fav Prank of All Time😭🙌 #fyp
