A video of some people setting fire to an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being circulated on social media platforms as recent visuals of GenZ protests in the country.
What did the viral post say?: An X (formerly Twitter) premium user named 'Pamphlets' shared the clip with a caption that said, "BREAKING — Gen Z Protesters Burn Modi. Indians are Tired in Living Under BJP Corruption."
What's the truth?: The video could be traced back to at least January of this year, which makes the viral claim false.
How did we find that out?: We conducted a Google Lens search on the keyframes of the viral video and found the same visuals uploaded on an Instagram handle named 'politicvoice' on 19 March.
The caption of the video suggested that the visuals were from the public protests against the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
Other sources: A second round of Google Lens search directed us to a longer version from the same incident, where people could be seen hitting the effigy first and then setting it on fire.
The video was published on 28 January by a Facebook account called 'Indus News TV'.
It was clear that the viral visuals were available since January and were incorrectly being shared as from a recent protest.
Conclusion: While we could not independently verify the location or context of the viral video, it is clear that the clip is old.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)