Fact-Check: Old Video of Insects Falling on People In Mecca Resurfaces as Recent

This video dates back to 2019 and is being falsely shared as a recent incident from Mecca.

A video showing several insects falling on people inside a mosque in Mecca is going viral on social media to claim that this incident happened recently on Ramadan.

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: While the video is indeed from Mecca, it dates back to 2019.

How did we find that out?: We did not find any recent credible reports that corroborated the viral claim.

• We performed a reverse image search on Google using some of the keyframes of the video.

• This led us to a similar video from 14 January 2019 and the description read, "A swarm of what appears to locusts descended on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on 8 January 2019."

• We also found another reports from The Times of Israel and Daily Express from January 2019 which specified that a massive swarm of locusts plagued Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

• Makkah Municipality also clarified on 8 January 2019 with some images of the Great Mosque of Mecca being cleared of locusts. 

معالي أمين العاصمة المقدسة
م . محمد القويحص
يوجه فرق الإصحاح البيئي التابعة
لـ #امانة_العاصمة_المقدسة بالعمل في أعمال مكافحة
(حشرة الجنادب السوداء )
على مدار الساعة وفِي جميع أنحاء مكة المكرمة حتى يتم التخلص والقضاء عليها إن شاء الله •#مكة_المكرمة#العاصمة_المقدسة pic.twitter.com/h5BHb9HcHP

— أمانة العاصمة المقدسة (@holymakkah) January 7, 2019

Conclusion: An old video from Mecca showing several insects emerging inside a mosque is going viral on social media as recent.

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