Old Italian rally photo falsely shared as 'anti-war protest' in Ukraine in Sept 2023

"Anti-war demonstrations of over 100,000 people break out in Ukraine!" reads the simplified Chinese title of a post on content aggregator NetEase on September 10.

"Ukrainians have finally had enough and took to the streets to protest Zelensky's endless conscription and war," the article reads.

"On September 7, in the capital Kyiv, more than 100,000 Ukrainians came out to the streets to demand the government sign a peace treaty with Russia to stop the war!"

The accompanying photo appears to show a demonstration in a town square.

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Screenshot of the false post, taken September 15, 2023

The post was shared shortly after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington would "maximise" efforts to support Ukraine as it pressed ahead with its counteroffensive against Russia during an unexpected visit to Kyiv on September 6, 2023.

His comments came hours after Ukrainian officials said a Russia-led artillery strike on a market in eastern Ukraine killed over a dozen people, one of the deadliest in weeks.

The photos were also shared alongside a similar false claim on X, formerly Twitter, Chinese social media platforms Weibo and Douyin, as well as news aggregator sites Toutiao, Sohu, NetEase, Tencent and Sina.

However, the picture in fact predates Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022 -- AFP found no credible reports of large-scale anti-war protests in Kyiv as of September 19.

2018 Protest in Italy

A combination of keyword and reverse image searches on Google and TinEye found the original photo was uploaded to photo agency Alamy's website on November 10, 2018 (archived link).

The photo is captioned: "Turin, Italy-November 10, 2018: People during the demonstration of the Si Tav, citizens in favour of the construction of the TAV demonstration with 40 thousand demonstrators take part on Piazza Castello."

The Treno Alta Velocita (TAV) is a controversial international high-speed rail project involving the construction of a 57.5 kilometre (36 miles) tunnel across the French and Italian Alps to cut travel time and link the two countries' train networks.

Supporters say the project -- slated for completion in 2032 -- is a potential source of growth for the region and northern Italy, but critics say the line is a misuse of public funds and poses environmental risks (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo shared in the false posts (left) and the original photo published on Alamy (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the photo shared in the false posts (left) and the original photo published on Alamy (right)

The rally in Turin's Piazza Castello in support of the TAV project was attended by between 30,000 to 40,000 people, AFP reported on November 10, 2018.

The Piazza Castello and other surrounding landmarks including the Palazzo Madama and the Cancellata di Palazzo Reale correspond to imagery of the location seen on Google Maps (archived links here, here and here).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the false posts (left) and the corresponding location on Google Street View (right), with similarities marked by AFP:

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Screenshot comparison of the photo in the false posts (left) and the corresponding location on Google Street View (right), with similarities marked by AFP