Global Courant
Claim:
A video that went viral in late September 2023 authentically showed 500,000 “military elderly men” gathering on the northern coast of Africa in preparation for their migration to Europe and America.
Judgement:
At the end of September 2023, a video used to be Scattered online, which reportedly shows “500,000 aging soldiers gathering on the northern coast of Africa and preparing to invade Europe and America.”
One message on X (formerly Twitter) with the relevant images read “ALERT: About 500,000 military-age men reportedly gathering in North Africa in preparation to enter Europe… MEDIA QUIET….”
WARNING: About 500,000 military-age men are reportedly gathering in North Africa in preparation to enter Europe.
MEDIA QUIET..https://t.co/slipdcvGWv
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) September 25, 2023
However, when we searched for the video via reverse image search, we noticed that it was not released in September 2023. published on June 23, 2023, on a questionable “redd.tube” website, with the caption:
THE SITUATION IS GETTING WORSE… REPORTS OF UP TO 500,000 MALE IMMIGRANTS HAVE ARRIVED IN LIBYA IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS AS THEY prepare to enter Europe via Italian waters. MOST OF THEM ARE FROM PAKISTAN
The longest and earliest version of the statues we found was published on TikTok on June 1, 2023, and the caption in Arabic (we used Google Translate) read: “Deportation of young Egyptians from Libya, may God make it easy for them.”
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Another video published on the same day was also captioned in Arabic: “An Egyptian woman was arrested in a Libyan warehouse in Musaed #Immigration_to_Europe #Immigration.”
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We checked to see if reliable news sources had reported that Libya was deporting “young Egyptians” in early June 2023. Reuters published one article on June 4, 2023, on this topic. It read in part:
Eastern Libyan forces have expelled thousands of Egyptians who were in Libya illegally in recent days and deported them on foot across the land border to Egypt, an Egyptian security source and an eastern Libyan security source said.
The Libyan security source said 4,000 migrants were found during attacks on traffickers after a firefight between security forces and smugglers, and all were deported.
BBC Arabic published a similar message article on June 5, 2023 it said (we used Google Translate to translate it from Arabic):
The deportation of Egyptians on foot from Libya is causing anger in Egypt
Thousands of Egyptian migrants have made the journey on foot from Libya to their country after Libyan authorities decided to deport them to their country for staying illegally.
Libyan authorities found thousands of illegal immigrants being held in the homes and farms of smugglers during a recent campaign and decided to deport them in an effort to provide security and limit the flow of illegal immigrants.
Also the Associated Press covered the topic in early June 2023, underscoring that Libya is the “dominant transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to reach Europe”:
Traffickers have taken advantage of the chaos in Libya, smuggling migrants across the country’s long border with six countries. They then pack desperate migrants seeking a better life in Europe into poorly equipped rubber boats and other vessels for risky journeys on the perilous route through the central Mediterranean.
In addition, there is an X account of a media network based in Egypt, @RassdNewsN, Posted a similar video with the caption: “Libyan authorities are sending thousands of illegal immigrants back to Egypt through the land port of Amsaed.” The post was shared on June 2, 2023 and showed security forces wearing the same uniforms as those visible in the video in question:
Make sure you run out of money to use your washing machine This is the case pic.twitter.com/7NY9oQiE7N
— شبكة رصد (@RassdNewsN) June 2, 2023
In short, we have found no evidence that “500,000 aging soldiers massed on the northern coast of Africa” were preparing to invade Europe and America. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has done so reported that the part of the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Italy is one of the most important migration routes to Europe, and that in 2022 “the number of detections in the Central Mediterranean will have increased by more than half to over 100,000 detections”, of course a smaller number than the 500,000 mentioned in the viral posts.
In addition, the end of June 2023 The observersa fact-finding investigation by France 24, as well as Myth Detector and AFP Sprawdzam debunked comparable videos it reportedly depicts 500,000 migrants ‘preparing to invade Italy’, which could have been a source of the rumors about young men invading Europe and America.
Overall, given that several sources indicated that the video in question showed Egyptian immigrants being deported from Libya, rather than African men preparing to invade Europe and America, we have deemed this claim ‘misrepresented ‘ rated.
Sources:
Central Mediterranean Route. https://frontex.europa.eu/what-we-do/monitoring-and-risk-analysis/migratory-routes/central-mediterranean-route/. Accessed September 26, 2023.
“Armed forces in eastern Libya organize mass deportation of Egyptian migrants.” Reuters, June 4, 2023. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/eastern-libya-forces-stage-mass-deportation-egyptian-migrants-2023-06-04/.
“Eastern Libyan authorities arrest thousands in crackdown on migrants.” AP News, June 3, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/libya-migrants-crackdown-egypt-2fd0aced8b8d05e7aa6c7d05637c2f57.
“There can be no question of a shift of migrants to the libii in Włoch.” Sprawdzam, July 28, 2023, https://sprawdzam.afp.com/doc.afp.com.33PZ34Y.
“No, these videos do not show 500,000 migrants preparing to invade Italy.” The Observers – France 24, June 29, 2023, https://observers.france24.com/en/africa/20230629-intox-arm%C3%A9e-500000-migrants-libye-%C3%A9gypte-arrestation-police.
“Who are we?” The Observers – France 24, September 9, 2020, https://observers.france24.com/en/wie-zijn-wij.
“I think the device is not working properly.” BBC News Wednesday, June 5, 2023, https://www.bbc.com/arabic/tv-and-radio-65814715.
