Have you seen that viral video of an absolutely massive crowd purporting to show people protesting in France? One Twitter user has even shared the video with the caption, “You don’t see this on TV,” suggesting that mainstream news outlets are somehow hiding the riots in France right now. But there’s a very good reason you’re not seeing this footage on TV. It’s from a concert in Mexico roughly a month ago.
The video, which has gone viral on Twitter and TikTok, is spreading with popular hashtags like #FranceHasFallen and #FranceRiots. And while France is currently experiencing civil unrest in the wake of cellphone video that emerged showing a police officer killing a 17-year-old in France, this video has nothing to do with any of that.
The viral video claims it was taken in Nanterre, France, but that’s simply not true. In reality, the video was taken in Mexico City during a concert by the band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. Roughly 300,000 people were in attendance for the show on June 3, according to CNN.
The original video was also shared on TikTok and YouTube in early June, which anyone can see from the time-stamps available on each. In fact, the video from Mexico has over 13 million views on TikTok alone.
But the video has more recently been shared across multiple platforms as depicting the current unrest in France, sparked by the killing of a teenager. The police officer claimed the teen, who’s only been identified as Nahel, had tried to run him over, but video emerged showing that wasn’t the case and the driver appears to have just tried to drive off. The French officer reportedly shot the 17-year-old of Algerian descent at point blank range.
More than 1,300 people have been arrested in France during the riots and French President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a planned trip to Germany this weekend. The grandmother of Nahel has also called for the violence to stop, according to a report from Reuters.
It’s not clear why this viral video from Mexico is being shared as something happening in France, but there are a number of fake images and videos that have surfaced online during the riots.
For example, footage went viral on Twitter this past Friday claiming to show a “sniper” in France. But the video was originally shot in March and appears to have been made as a joke about the video game Call of Duty. And a photo purporting to show a stolen police van in France over the past two days was actually from the 2022 Netflix movie Athena.
Why do people spread videos like this with fake information? That part is unclear. Various countries have a long history of spreading misinformation to influence public opinion. But the other possibility is that some people just like to spread lies because it makes them feel powerful or important.
We don’t know why this video from Mexico City is being shared as something from France. All we know for certain is that it has nothing to do with the current riots.
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