On April 22, a Georgian-language Facebook account published a video of a man wearing high heels and a glittery suit dancing with the Ukrainian flag. The following caption is attached to the video: “Gay Prides in Ukraine.”
The disseminated post contains elements of video manipulation. The video, in which a man dances with the Ukrainian flag, does not depict the “Gay Pride” held in Ukraine but the 2022 carnival of the Spanish city of Santiago de la Ribera.
The video shared on Facebook is of low quality; however, we were able to recognize a green banner on the street in the same video posted on other social networks. With the help of this banner, through an additional search on the social network, we found out that the video was not shot in Ukraine but in the Spanish city of Santiago de la Ribera.
In Google Street View, this place looks as follows:
The video was recorded during the May 2022 carnival in the city of Santiago de Ribera, province of Murcia, Spain. The dancer seen in the video can be seen a number of times in photos and videos posted on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the carnival.
About the Source
The Facebook account “Shiin Evropisken” [Home to Europe], together with several other Facebook accounts of the same name (1, 2, 3), distributes information of homophobic and anti-Western content in a coordinated manner, including false claims and fake photo-video materials. The page was created as a counterbalance to the civil campaign “Home to Europe” initiated by non-governmental organizations, which aims to support Georgia’s integration into the European Union.
For more information about the disinformation disseminated by the above-mentioned Facebook accounts, see the articles prepared by “Myth Detector:”
- “Shiin Evropisken” Disseminates a Fake Photo of Gia Nodia (in Georgian)
- Did Zviad Gamsakhurdia Say the US will enslave Georgia through the NGO Sector? (In Georgian)
- Videomanipulation, as if Naked Men are Being Introduced to Students in UK Schools
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