The viral video did not show dozens of cars being set on fire by French protesters in July 2023. Instead, it showed a fire incident that occurred at an auction yard in Perth, Australia, in April 2023.
In late June 2023, massive protests broke out in France due to the death of Nahel, the 17-year-old shot dead in Nanterre during a police check. In connection with the event, a wave of disinformation and misinformation spread across social media platforms.
A video allegedly showing dozens of new cars that were set on fire by French protesters in July 2023 was shared on numerous social media profiles and websites. It also spread on Turkish, Arabic, and Russian-speaking media, with users claiming it showed "the consequences of unprecedented protests in France." Although the video is authentic, the event depicted in the video did not occur during the French protests, nor was it even in France.
The video actually shows a fire that broke out at a Pickles auction yard in Perth, Australia, in April 2023.
Given that the video was shared out of context, contributing to the spread of misinformation regarding the protests in France, we rate it as 'Miscaptioned.'
The original video and similar footage were originally published on Twitter and TikTok on April 28, 2023, and reposted on YouTube and TikTok in May 2023.
Engulfed in black smoke and our border collie picked up the scent before we even saw smoke pic.twitter.com/BLuR6tEwZJ
— jacey knowles (@JaceyKnowles) April 28, 2023
In May 2023, the video in question was miscaptioned by social media users falsely claiming that in the USA, a fire broke out at a warehouse of electric cars that were waiting to be sold to clients when the battery of one of the cars started to burn. You can read our article on the topic here.
Shayan Sardarizadeh, a journalist at BBC Verify, published a thread on Twitter discussing the topic of other miscaptioned footage, emphasizing the importance of fact-checking in today's digital age.
Thread: Viral misinformation about the French riots
This video of several cars falling from a multi-storey car park is from the set of the action film Fast & Furious 8, and unrelated to the current French riots.
It was filmed in 2016 on Prospect Avenue East in Cleveland, Ohio. pic.twitter.com/bdV9HIvTa2
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) July 2, 2023
During times of unrest and confusion, misinformation and disinformation can easily spread, as demonstrated by the misrepresentation of the video's context. It's important to verify the sources and context of any videos before sharing them on social media. If you're unsure if a photograph or a video on social media is authentic, feel free to send it to us.