Fact Check: Old video from Pakistan falsely shared as recent from Kerela

Hyderabad: A video showing cars trampling Indian Tricolour painted on the road, while a group of people waving the Pakistani flag celebrating the occasion is viral on social media. Users claim that the incident occurred in Kerala.

The video is being shared with the caption, "Watch this video of Kerala and forward it as much as you can....if u keep quiet today we will be at a loss...because after 6 months there will be no use to pursue it... swing your fingers and forward it now". (Archive link) (Archive Link) (Archive link)

This is not the first instance of the video's circulation. It has been viral for years, with several other users tweeting the video with the same claim.

Claims from 2022 and 2023 can be seen here.

Not only Kerela, the video was viral in 2022 claiming its origin from Tamil Nadu.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be misleading as the viral video dates back to 2020. It is from Pakistan and not Kerala.

Upon thoroughly examining the viral video, we noted certain factors, such as the presence of the Pakistani flag and the distinct color scheme of the auto-rickshaws, which suggest that the video was not filmed in India. With this in mind, we conducted a keyword search to uncover any reports of similar incidents in Kerala. However, our search did not yield any relevant reports on the matter.

Moving forward, we conducted a reverse image search on Google with relevant keyframes from the video and found the still from the viral video uploaded on X on March 10, 2020.

The caption accompanying the post reads: "Salute to this man on a motorcycle. In 2 2-minute video, this man is the only one who refused to step on the Indian flag, passed beside the flag."

This indicates that the video is not a recent one.

Through our search, we found a longer version of the viral video. In the video, we observed a van with the name 'The Hunar Foundation' on its side. Notably, the Hunar Foundation provides vocational training to empower young adults economically, with their address listed in Karachi according to Google. This detail adds weight to the likelihood that the video was filmed in Karachi.

Next, we observed a white vehicle bearing the text 'PTCL' written in green. Upon further investigation, we found that PTCL stands for the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd., the national telecommunications company in Pakistan.

Lastly, we observed a shop with the signboard 'Sanam Boutique'. Through a keyword search, we located a shop named 'Sanam' in Karachi. This search led us to discover 'Sanam Boutique' located on Tariq Road in Karachi, Pakistan.

Using Geolocation, we found the exact location of the Anti-Indian rally.

Hence, the incident can be confirmed to have taken place neither in Kerela nor in Tamil Nadu. It has been filmed on Tariq Road in Karachi, Pakistan.