Old Video Resurfaces, Claims to Show Saudi Mall Post Lockdown

In 2019, several users had shared the video claiming that it shows crowd in a store after it announced discounts.

A viral video falsely claimed that it shows the situation of a shopping mall in Saudi Arabia after lockdown was lifted.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A viral video showing several people entering a store as the doors open is being shared with the claim that it shows a shopping mall in Saudi Arabia “after lifting of lockdown.”

However, The Quint could trace back the video to 2019 when some social media users had claimed that the video shows gathering in a store in Al-Shawqiyah, near Mecca, after it announced discounts.

You can view the archived version here.

CLAIM

The claim along with the video reads: “Just see the Saudi Arab Shopping Mall After lifting of Lock Down.”

Several social media users have shared the video on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.

You can view the archived version here.

You can view the archived version here.

The Quint received a query on the claim made in the video on its WhatsApp helpline.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We divided the video into multiple keyframes and did a reverse search on Google which led us to a tweet shared on 3 December 2019. The tweet shared by Mecca News, when translated in English using Google translate, mentions that the video shows how people gathered in a store when it announced discounts for certain products.

"This is what happened yesterday when a store in Al-Shawqiyah announced discounts for products of 5 riyals, which required the presence of teams from security patrols,” the tweet reads.

We found that several other users had shared the video on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in December 2019.

It is clear that the video is not recent and definitely not related to the lifting of coronavirus lockdown, however, The Quint has not been able to independently verify the exact origin and context of the video.

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