Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being widely shared on social media platforms. Two men in a turban are seen engaging in a tussle. It is being claimed along with the video that the men seen in the video are farmers and they are discussing the ‘monthly rate’ for attending the farmers’ protest. After investigation we found out that the video is old and from Barnala tractor mandi.
Claim:
X user Baba Banaras shared the viral video on his profile.
Check the archive version of the post here.
Other users too are sharing the same video.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by checking the comment section of the post. Many users mentioned that the video is old and from a tractor sale.
We uploaded the video in the InVid tool and checked the keyframes obtained. Through this we found several videos on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. All these videos mentioned either in the caption or on the text written over the video that the clip is from a tractor sale.
A journalist from Barnala Amandeep informed us that there are several tractor mandis or fairs in Barnala, Mansa, Bhatinda, Modmandi and Moga.
We then connected with a journalist based in Bhatinda, Gurtej Sidhu. He informed us that this video is old.
We found the video uploaded on 16th January this year on Facebook.
This was a longer version of the video and there was another similar video uploaded the next day.
Through the contact details provided on Facebook page, ‘Jatt Zimidar Vlog’, we reached out to the admin, who informed us that the viral video is from Barnala tractor mandi and the video shows a tractor sale. The video was shot by the team members of this Facebook page. He also informed that the video is not connected to the recent farmers protest.
Conclusion: Video showing a tractor sale in the Barnala tractor Mandi in Punjab passed off as monthly rate being decided for ongoing farmers’ protest. Viral claim is false.
