Old photo of traffic jam in China falsely linked to rally by supporters of ex-Pakistani PM
- Published on September 16, 2024 at 10:51
- 3 min read
- By Masroor GILANI, AFP Pakistan
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"Well done, 10 million cars are entering Sangjani right now. Stop it, if you can," read the Urdu-language caption to a photo shared on Facebook on September 8, 2024.
The photo, which was shared more than 2,000 times, shows a massive traffic jam at a toll station.
It surfaced as thousands of Khan's supporters gathered in the Sangjani area of Islamabad in support of the former prime minister, despite authorities' attempts to block major roads into the capital (archived link).
The demonstration, led by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was the largest in Islamabad since the retired international cricketer was jailed on several charges in 2023, some of them still before the courts.
Khan insists along with his party that the charges against him are designed to prevent him from returning to office.
The photo was shared alongside similar false claims elsewhere on Facebook and social media platform X, but it was in fact taken nine years earlier in China.
Traffic jam in China
A reverse image search led to the same photo published on the website of the Irish Independent on October 8, 2015 (archived link).
The article is titled, "World's worst tailback? Thousands stranded in 50-lane traffic jam in China".
The photo, credited to Reuters/China Daily, is captioned: "Vehicles are seen stuck in a traffic jam near a toll station as people return home at the end of a week-long national day holiday, in Beijing, China, October 6, 2015."
The article states the footage shows the "G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway".
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the false post (left) and the photo used in the Irish Independent (right):
The same photo was also used in similar articles published by the Huffington Post and Evening Standard and on October 7 and October 8, 2015 (archived links here and here).
It was also used illustratively in articles about alleviating traffic congestion published by the China Daily in August 2016 and January 2017 (archived links here and here).
AFP geolocated the photo to a toll plaza on the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway on the outskirts of Beijing.
AFP has repeatedly debunked misinformation about Khan.
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