Anti-migrant posts from Australia share miscaptioned Chile clip

"What a fine migrant running amok at Sydney airport," says an X user based in Western Australia in a March 4, 2026 post.

The video he linked to -- which had embedded text claiming it was taken in "Sydney Australia airport" -- shows an agitated man running through an airport terminal and smashing display screens with a hammer.

He then walks to the airport's entrance and shatters the glass doors.

The clip also spread on TikTok and carried the watermark of user @xmarknikox. One lamented the video was "for those of you who voted for Albo", a reference to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

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Screen capture of false Facebook and TikTok posts taken on March 6, 2026, with the red X added by AFP

Since 2025, a series of anti-immigration marches -- some attended by neo-Nazis -- have taken place across Australia, with critics blaming Albanese's government and his centre-left Labor Party for the country's social issues (archived here and here). 

Discourse has also ticked up on social media platforms -- where false claims concerning immigration have long proliferated -- after comments from Pauline Hanson, the far-right leader of the anti-immigration One Nation party, about Muslims in Australia (archived link).

During an interview on February 16, she said "their religion concerns me" and questioned whether there can be "good Muslims". Australia's watchdog agency on race discrimination denounced her, saying her comments "stigmatise and devalue" people (archived link). 

Some users sharing the video echoed the rhetoric.

"The Australian Government must now explain to Australians why they have brought individuals into the Country that hate us and our life. This is terrorism," says one post, which has since been taken down.

Another commenter said: "This is what Pauline Hanson has been saying."

The video also spread to users in England.

But it was not filmed at Sydney airport, as posts claimed, and there were no official reports indicating a similar incident recently happened in the Australian city.

Sydney Airport's media team confirmed to AFP that this incident did not happen on their premises. 

"In addition, the food options and the retail offering is not available in Sydney and the signage is in Spanish not English," they said in an email on March 6.

Chile airport

An analysis of the video found Spanish-language signs throughout the building, as well as in the uniform of a security guard.

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Screenshot of the falsely shared video, with the red highlight added by AFP on the security guard's uniform

A reverse image search using keyframes surfaced an X post from February 24, 2025, saying the clip was taken in Chile's Santiago International Airport (archived link).

The area where the video was filmed corresponds to a picture of the South American airport geotagged on Google Maps.

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Comparison screenshots of the false video (left) with an earlier version saying that it was taken in Chile airport, with the red X added by AFP

A keyword search brought up a news report of the incident, which occurred on February 21, 2025, at Chile's main airport (archived link). The man, a Haitian national, reportedly lost his temper after an airline staffer declined to provide him assistance to return home at the airport.

The official X account of Chile's General Directorate of Civil Aviation reported on the incident, saying that the individual was detained (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked anti-migrant misinformation in Australia.