Imagine a fire breaking out in a parking lot thousands of miles away, and the flames causing commotion in a completely different part of the world. It sounds absurd, but that's exactly what happened. Just yesterday we reported on five misleading images about the current unrest in France and exposed them as fake news . Now a video shared on social media is once again triggering a wave of misinformation. The video showing burning vehicles in a parking lot comes from Australia, not France.
| Claims | Fact check |
|---|---|
| The video shows rioters setting fire to a parking lot full of new vehicles in France. | The video actually shows a fire in Australia that occurred in a Pickles Auctions parking lot in Bibra Lake. |
| The video comes from the period of unrest in France in late June and early July. | The video was recorded back in April, months before the unrest in France. |
| The video was shot in Marseille, France. | The video was actually shot in Bibra Lake, a suburb of Perth, Australia. |
| The fire was caused by the unrest in France. | The fire was actually a separate incident that took place in Australia and was unrelated to the unrest in France. |
The fire that wasn't there
A video spread like wildfire on the Internet. It showed a devastating vehicle fire in a parking lot. Social media users were convinced that this was the riots in France at the end of June and beginning of July.
Numerous posts were shared that read: “Unrest in France – July 2, 2023 Update – Marseille: Rioters set fire to a parking lot full of brand new vehicles.”
The true story
The truth is, this video is a bit old - about three months, to be exact. And it wasn't recorded in France, but in a completely different part of the world - Australia . The video shows a fire that occurred in Bibra Lake, a suburb of Perth, in April.
Jacey Knowles, a Perth resident, took the footage and posted it on Twitter. The fire broke out on the premises of a vehicle auction known as Pickles Auctions. The local news reported extensively and showed similar images of the fire.
April 29, 2023: Hundreds of cars have gone up in flames at an auction yard in Perth
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The consequences
The fire caused significant damage to the Pickles Auctions premises. According to a press release , 60 tow trucks and their associated racks were affected and vehicles in the immediate vicinity of the fire were additionally damaged.
- One thing was certain: this was no harmless fire.
- But it wasn't a fire in a parking lot in France either.
A simple Google Maps search for the Pickles Auction House in Bibra Lake confirmed that the location in the video matched the actual location.
Conclusion: In a world where social media dominates the news landscape, disinformation can spread like wildfire. But as this example shows, it is important to question things, check things and, above all, be careful not to become an amplifier of disinformation. Because even if a fire is terrible in Australia, it cannot cause unrest in France. So be careful and skeptical about everything you see online. Check the sources and make sure what you see is true. Remember: not everything that glitters is gold, and not every fire burns where it seems to burn.
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )