Fact Check

Tragedy of the Comments

The children in the photo died in Syria in 2013, not Paris in 2015.

Published Nov. 18, 2015

Claim:

[green-label]Claim:[/green-label] Photograph depicts child victims of the 13 November 2015 terror attacks in Paris.

[dot-false]FALSE[/dot-false]

[green-label]Example:[/green-label] [green-small][Collected via Facebook, November 2015][/green-small]

Omg they killed innocent kids in Paris ????????????

Dont scroll without saying r.I.p and showing respect

omg innocent kids paris

[green-label]Origins:[/green-label] In the days following 13 November 2015 attacks in Paris a number of social media rumors circulated, many of which contained a built-in incitement to share the claim as far as possible (and played upon feelings of grief or sadness).

On 14 November 2015, a Facebook user shared the above-reproduced status update claiming the appended photograph depicted innocent children who had perished in the Paris attacks.

The claim was demonstrably false. The photo appeared as early as May 2013, and a caption published on 5 May 2013 identified them thusly:

In May, photographs were released of bodies lying in a street in Baniyas after more than 140 people died in a sectarian massacre by pro-Assad forces in Baniyas and Bayda.

As such, the children depicted in the photo died in Syria, not Paris. They were reported to be "victims of an massacre allegedly committed by gangs of Syrian militia loyal to President Bashar Assad," not Parisian children.

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[green-label]Last updated:[/green-label] 18 November 2015

[green-label]Originally published:[/green-label] 18 November 2015

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.