Fact-checked torchlight procession video resurfaces with false claims
A video circulating on social media claims to show a torchlight procession by the Awami League in Sylhet in support of the February 18 strike. However, verification confirms the footage is old. The same video was previously shared in January with similar claims, and several fact-checking organizations published fact-check reports debunking it. Moreover, the original video, recorded about a year and a half ago, does not feature the Awami League but the BNP.
Multiple Facebook users (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) have shared the video, claiming it shows a recent Awami League procession. The caption almost makes the same claim: “17/02/2025 Bangladesh Awami League’s previously announced program torch procession in Sylhet Joy Bangla Joy Bangabandhu.”
The video has also been shared on multiple YouTube channels (1, 2, 3) with false claims. Posted on February 17, these videos describe it as an Awami League torch procession in Sylhet.
To verify the authenticity of the video, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search using keyframes. The search found factcheck reports (1, 2) from two fact-checking organizations, published on January 18.
Fact-checking organization Rumor Scanner reported that the Awami League-backed online platform A Team called for a strike on January 18, demanding the resignation of interim government chief adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus, among other demands. At the time, the video was shared on social media with the claim that it showed an Awami League torch procession in Sylhet in support of the strike. However, verification found that the footage was not from an Awami League procession but an old torch procession of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Rumor Scanner found the video on the YouTube channel of Samakal, a national daily in Bangladesh, and noted similarities with a report published on November 18, 2023.
Nearly a month after the fact-check report was published, the same video resurfaced with the same false claim. While it continued to be described as an Awami League procession, the timing was altered. This time, the video was linked to the party’s new program for February. According to media reports, the Awami League called for a strike on February 16 and 18 to protest against the interim government. The circulated video claimed that Awami League supporters in Sylhet held a torch procession the night before the February 18 strike, a claim that is false. In reality, the footage is from a BNP torch procession in 2023, and it has now been falsely shared twice within a month.
This is not the first instance of a false claim being fact-checked and then circulated again. Similar incidents have occurred previously. Last December, a false claim about Barrister Asaduzzaman Fuaad, the current General Secretary of the AB Party, was debunked by the fact-checking organization Factwatch, part of Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program. However, two months later, the same claim resurfaced on social media, prompting Ajker Patrika to publish a report.
In February of the previous year, a claim circulated on social media, accompanied by pictures, suggesting that six friends in the images had become BCS cadres together. Rumor Scanner debunked this claim and published a report at the time. Yet, nearly a year later, the same false claim reappeared on social media, leading the same fact-checking organization to publish a follow-up report on January 30 this year.
