The video is actually a 2012 news report on the death of a Filipina migrant worker -- actress Julia Barretto is alive and well

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 30, 2019 at 06:05
Updated on August 30, 2019 at 06:23
4 min read
By AFP Philippines

A video has been viewed tens of thousands of times on YouTube and shared hundreds of times on Facebook, alongside a claim that Philippine actress Julia Barretto was found dead in Hong Kong. The claim is false; Barretto has since appeared in a video interview, and the footage in the misleading post is from a news report about the death of a Filipino migrant worker in 2012.

A two-minute, one-second video was posted on August 20, 2019, on YouTube here, where it has been watched more than 67,000 times since.

Translated from Tagalog to English, the title of the video reads: “Julia Barretto Found Dead in Hong Kong”.

Below is the screenshot of the YouTube video:

Screenshot of the misleading YouTube post

A similar claim was also posted in a Facebook post here on August 17, 2019, and has since been shared nearly 300 times.

Translated to English, the Tagalog caption says:
“This news is SHOCKING! My deepest condolences go to the Barreto family, especially to Ms. Marjorie my prayers are with your family.
Watch the Full Report to know if she committed suicide or if she was killed.
#wewillmissyoujulia #farewell”.

Below is a screenshot of the Facebook post:

Screenshot of Facebook post

The link in the Facebook post directs users to this page which embeds a video link.

The headline, when translated from Tagalog to English, says: “Breaking News | Julia Barretto found dead in HONG KONG, cause of death not yet clear.”

The video link eventually leads to the misleading YouTube video.

Below is a screenshot of the online report:

Screenshot of the misleading video on the website

But Baretto is still very much alive. She gave this interview to the Filipino broadcaster ABS-CBN on August 22, 2019.

Below is a screengrab of the video of her interview:

Screengrab of video

The video and photo in the misleading Facebook post, online report and YouTube video are unrelated to Barretto.

A Google reverse image search using keyframes from the misleading video obtained through the InVID video verification tool found this identical video posted by GMA News on February 26, 2012.

Translated to English, the title of the two-minute, one-second GMA News video reads: “24oras: Some items owned by the OFW who was found dead in Hong Kong have been returned to the family.”

The news footage reported on the death of Filipino migrant worker Rowena Gomez in Hong Kong.

24oras, which means 24 hours, is the nightly news programme of Philippine news outlet GMA News.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading video (L) and the GMA News footage (R):

Screenshot comparison of the misleading video (L) and the GMA News footage (R)

Multiple Philippine news reports, such as ABS-CBN here and Inquirer.net here, also reported on Gomez, who was found dead in Hong Kong on February 5, 2012.

A Google image search of the thumbnail shown in the video link, showing men carrying a stretcher and what appeared to be a corpse, led to this picture from Associated Press taken on June 12, 2019.

The caption of the AP photo says: “Police officials stand next to a tent where divers brought what is believed to be remains of a 6-year-old girl, near the village of Xiliatos, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 12, 2019.”

Below is a screenshot of the photo as it appears in the Associated Press database:

Screenshot of the Associated Press photo

Below is a comparison of the screenshot of the thumbnail (L) and the photo taken by AP on June 12, 2019:

Screenshot comparison of the photo used in the misleading post (L) and the AP photo (R)

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