Batman videos falsely shared as France riot footage

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 7, 2023 at 17:28
3 min read
By Natalie WADE, AFP USA

Online posts claim videos of people dressed as the comic superhero Batman were taken during recent protests in France, triggered by an act of police violence. This is false; the clips circulating online were shot in the US and predate the unrest in Europe.

"Even Batman Has Had Enough #Frenchriots ..." says a July 2, 2023 tweet shared alongside a video of a group of men -- all in Batman costumes -- piling out of the back of a U-Haul truck.

"Batman really pulled up to the riots in France!" says a similar July 3 tweet, where a person in a Batman costume walks among a crowd of protesters.

Screenshot of a tweet taken July 6, 2023

Screenshot of a tweet taken July 6, 2023

More iterations of both videos can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and TikTok here and here.

The claims emerged after France was rocked by riots following the death of a teenager, who was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop on June 27 in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. This sparked successive nights of rioting in which cars were set ablaze, businesses looted and protestors clashed with police across Europe.

But AFP determined that neither video featuring the fictional superhero was filmed during these events, nor were they shot in France.

A keyword search on TikTok led AFP to similar videos showing the group of costumed individuals exiting the back of the moving truck from a different angle and versions of the video shared on the platform before the protests. AFP found examples of these videos as early as April 2023 -- months before the unrest.

The captions indicate that the footage depicts participants of a bar crawl near Florida State University, where several groups of students dressed in costume.

AFP compared the videos side by side-by-side to identify key similarities, circled below:

Screenshot of a tweet taken July 7, 2023 with elements outlined by AFP

Screenshot of a TikTok video taken July 6, 2023 with elements outlined by AFP

Using geolocation techniques, AFP pinpointed where the video was shot -- on the corner of Madison Street and Woodward Avenue in Tallahassee, Florida, shown below:

Additionally, U-Haul does not operate in France, and in the background of the video, an American 25 mph speed limit sign is visible.

The second video shows a person in a Batman costume walking through a crowd during a protest -- but not in France. A keyword search uncovered the same video titled, "BATMAN Arrives at the PROTESTS !!! #RIOT #BLM," shared on YouTube in May 2020.

Other examples of this video dating back to 2020, can be found on the video-sharing platform, linking it to a protest in the US state of Pennsylvania. In these longer videos, the signs held by protesters can be seen and one says: "Justice for George Floyd."

Landmarks in the clip indicate it was shot at 1400 John F Kennedy Blvd, in front of City Hall in the state capitol Philadelphia:

AFP has debunked other false claims about the riots that swept across France in June 2023 in English and French.

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