'Aliens are real': internet reacts to Pentagon’s UFO file dump, sparking theories of extraterrestrial life

The Pentagon’s release of new UFO-related documents has sparked a wave of alien theories and online speculation, despite officials saying there is no confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial life.

The newly released files on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, include FBI interviews, NASA records and military imagery linked to mystery sightings.

Within hours of the documents being published online, social media platforms were flooded with theories claiming the files were proof that aliens exist or that governments have hidden information for decades.

One widely discussed document described an FBI interview with a drone pilot who reported seeing a glowing “linear object” in the sky in 2023.

“The object was visible for five to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,” the document stated.

Users also focused on a NASA image from the Apollo 17 mission showing three dots in a triangular formation. The Pentagon said there is “no consensus about the nature of the anomaly” .

The Pentagon said President Donald Trump’s administration was committed to “providing maximum transparency to the public”.

However, experts urged caution, warning that many UAP sightings are often misidentified military technology, optical effects or natural phenomena rather than evidence of alien life.