Authors
A video showing fireworks display during New Year’s celebration in Taiwan’s tallest building, Taipei 101 building, is being widely shared as ‘Diwali celebrations in Taiwan’ on various social media platforms.
While several Indian states imposed a ban on firecrackers during Diwali owing to pollution, netizens shared the video claiming, “Our fire regulations would never allow this beautiful Diwali display in Taipei.”
The two-minute and fifty-four-second-long viral video shows the crowd cheering a massive firework show from Taipei 101 which was the tallest building in the world from its completion in 2004 until 2009.
The video has been posted multiple times both on Twitter and Facebook since November 6 and has garnered hundreds of views on both platforms respectively.
Newschecker also found the same video posted on YouTube with the claim, ‘this 101 storey building in Taiwan was lit up in Diwali’
Factcheck/Verification
To check if the viral video did show Diwali celebrations in Taipei, Newschecker ran a keyword search for ‘Taipei fireworks’ on YouTube and found a similar video posted by user Lotnictwo.TV, a Japan-based aviation channel.
The video, posted on 31 December with the caption, ‘2021 Taiwan Taipei New Year Eve Fireworks,’ shows the Taipei building from a different angle.
Closer inspection shows that the frames are similar in both videos.
On checking YouTube for more videos from the New Year Celebration in Taipei, Newschecker came across another video posted by Taiwan News, an online newspaper based in Taiwan, which is indistinguishable from the viral video.
Taiwan News also carried a report titled ‘Taipei 101 New Year’s Eve fireworks set a hopeful tone for 2021 (Video).’ The article carries several images of the fireworks show which match the frames from the viral video.
The 16,000 fireworks display was reportedly ‘a tribute to Taiwan’s frontline medical workers and intended to convey a message of unity to the world.’
Conclusion
A video showing New Year’s Eve celebrations from the Taipei building falsely shared as Diwali celebrations 2021.
Result: False
Our Sources
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