Misleading: A video shows British people shouting 'shame on you' outside the BBC offices in London for its documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

By: Rahul Adhikari
January 30 2023

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Context

"India: The Modi Question," a two-part documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his role in the 2002 Gujarat violence, produced by the BBC, has been trending on social media since the release of the first episode on January 17. The documentary has caused a furor in India, with the country's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) reportedly directing YouTube and Twitter to take down links to the documentary. Viewers are split over the controversial film, with some opposing its message and some supporting it.

Multiple users shared a video on social media platforms Twitter and Koo, claiming that British people gathered in protest outside BBC headquarters in London after the documentary's release. The viral video shows a large crowd shouting slogans of "shame on you" and "take down the BBC." A Koo user wrote that the crowd was protesting against the BBC for spreading false propaganda against Prime Minister Modi. Several other Twitter and Koo users shared the video claiming that the BBC is hated in their own country and is spreading "fake propaganda" in other nations, adding hashtags indirectly linking the protest with the documentary.

In Fact

A reverse image search revealed that the viral video was captured during an anti-vaccine protest outside the BBC headquarters in London on January 21, 2023. The video was uploaded on Rumble from a channel named OracleFilms. The original video, titled "SHAME ON YOU" - Truth Be Told London 21.01.2023," carries a watermark - ORACLE FILMS - on the bottom-right corner, also seen in the viral video.

Truth Be Told is an anti-vaccination campaign run by an organization named Covileaks that stages protests across the U.K. According to their website, they held a protest outside the BBC broadcasting house on January 21 at 1 p.m. Earlier this month, they held similar demonstrations in Sheffield, Edinburgh, Birmingham, and Bristol. 

According to a Rolling Stone report dated January 24, a "Truth Be Told" rally was held outside the BBC London headquarters on January 21 to mark "COVID Vaccine Victim Awareness Month." The report includes a tweet with the viral video, which states that it was captured at "a demonstration outside BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London on January 21, 2023." Prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen were listed as the key speakers at the protest. While the former either did not attend or address the rally, Bridgen was present at the protest, where, according to Rolling Stone, he told the gathering, "We were told safe. It was a lie." We also found an image on Getty Images that shows Bridgen addressing the same rally, projected on the big screen. The image's caption read, "Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen speaks at a protest by anti-vaccine protesters in central London near the BBC, on January 21, 2023."

While the exact reason for the group choosing to protest outside the BBC headquarters is unknown, from Bridgen's statement, it would appear that the protestors were slamming the broadcasting house for "lying" about the COVID-19 vaccine and its effects, not for producing the documentary on Modi.

The Verdict

An unrelated video of an anti-vaccine demonstration outside BBC London headquarters has been shared online, claiming that the British public protested against the broadcasting organization for producing the recent documentary on Narendra Modi. Therefore, we have marked this as misleading.