Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being widely shared on several social media platforms, claiming that the drone show shown in the video is being put up in Prayagraj for the upcoming Mahakumbh. During the investigation we found that the video is from Texas and not related to Mahakumbh.
Claim:
X user Mohan Bhagwat (Pardoy) shared the video on his handle.
Other users too are sharing the video with same claim.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by running a reverse image search on the screenshots obtained from the video.
This led us to a post on LinkedIn.
The post mentioned: Ever seen Santa Claus come to life in the sky—powered by 5,000 drones? This jaw-dropping spectacle by Sky Elements in Mansfield, Texas, broke records and redefined what’s possible with drone shows.
Using the above details we ran a keyword search.
A news article on FoX5 Atlanta mentioned that a North Texas-based drone company set a new world record with its holiday display over Mansfield. Coppell’s Sky Elements Drone Shows and UVify put on a massive display on November 26. 4,981 drones were used to make the holiday display.
Several other news reports also mentioned the same.
We also found a video report about the same.
We found the Facebook page of Sky Elements Drones and found that the video was posted there with the caption, 5,000 DRONE SANTA.
The same reel was present on their Instagram account.
Conclusion: A video showing a new record set by Sky Elements Drones in the United States for the largest drone show, flying 5000 drones over Mansfield, Texas before Christmas, is falsely shared as that of Mahakumbh in Prayagraj. The viral claim is false.
