Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
Claim:
We are making fun of coronavirus on Facebook and WhatsApp… but if you want to see the plight caused by this virus then watch this video from China. The administration is having a tough time here. Your heart will melt after watching this video.
Verification:
As fact-checkers across the globe are fight misinformation, disinformation and fake news around coronavirus, the surge in malicious content is not seeing any respite. It’s been months since the outbreak but people are still sharing misleading information because of the lack of adequate information especially in countries like India, Pakistan, and Iran. The International Fact Check Network has called on its signatories across the globe to take coronavirus related claims on priority, and the question arises, why is misinformation about coronavirus a serious threat? The virus is dangerous and the panic around the pandemic is increasing – the absence of a permanent vaccine or a cure is only making it worse. People are more likely to believe any unverified and unscientific reasoning related to curbing the pandemic. An Indian politician claimed that the cow urine and dung can cure coronavirus and many believed the same without getting into the merits and demerits of the absurd claim made by the said politician. This is just one example of how people are believing whatever is being fed to them. In this hour of need, a well-researched fact-check can give people a new insight into why they should not believe the baseless solutions to the coronavirus. Our fact-checking team was tagged to verify one such piece of information about coronavirus. The viral video claims to show the visuals of police personnel trying to control the patients allegedly suffering from the pandemic.
हम यहां बैठकर.. व्हाट्सएप और फेसबुक पर.. *कोरोना वायरस* का मजाक उड़ाने में लगे हुए हैं
अगर.. कोरोना का असली कहर देखना है तो.. चाइना से आई इस वीडियो को देखें
वहां पुलिस प्रशासन को कितनी दिक्कतें झेलनी पड़ रही हैं आपका दिल भी दहल उठेगा इस वीडियो को देखकर#SAARCfightsCorona pic.twitter.com/cBkEEgaCM4— 100% Follow back (@SufiyanYusuf12) March 15, 2020
As we began to fact-check the viral video, we first fragmented the video so we could perform a reverse image search. As we reverse image searched the first frame of the video, we found that the same video was published by a YouTube publisher with the title “ Hong Kong protest latest update”.
Now, as we visited the aforementioned YouTube video, we noticed that the video was uploaded on 6 September 2019 with the title ‘Hongkong protest latest update’.
https://youtu.be/GfGDjuiFkN8
It is noteworthy that the aforementioned video is a longer version of the viral video and as it is evident from the aforementioned YouTube video that the viral video has nothing to do with the coronavirus outbreak as the first case of coronavirus was reported in December 2019.
Now, as per the title of the YouTube video, the video is related to Hongkong protests, we searched for more information on the viral video using the keywords around the Hong Kong protests. When we performed a Google search using the keyword “police personnel control Hong Kong protest in metro”, we found a YouTube video uploaded by BBC on 1 September 2019. Notably, the video uploaded by the BBC contains the same visuals as of the viral video. After watching the BBC video, we learned that the viral video is not related to the coronavirus outbreak but shows the brutality of Chinese police personnel on Hong Kong protesters.
We also found a report published by CNBC on August 31st, 2019 which backs the BBC video. An excerpt from the CNBC report reads, “Protesters in Hong Kong threw gasoline bombs at government headquarters and set fires in the streets on Saturday, while police stormed a subway car and hit passengers with batons and pepper spray in scenes that seem certain to inflame tensions further in a city riven by nearly three months of pro-democracy demonstrations.”
Hong Kong police storm subway with batons as protests rage
Protesters in Hong Kong threw gasoline bombs at government headquarters and set fires in the streets on Saturday, while police stormed a subway car and hit passengers with batons and pepper spray in scenes that seem certain to inflame tensions further in a city riven by nearly three months of pro-democracy demonstrations.
Hence it is evident from our fact check that the viral video has nothing to do with the coronavirus outbreak and is related to police storming the metro in the wake of Hong Kong protests.
Sources
Google Search
Result: Misleading
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Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
