Old, Unrelated Photo Falsely Shared as Recent One of Protest in Brazil

The photo dates back to February 2024 and shows a rally in support of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The photo is old and does not show an anti-government protest in Brazil.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A photo showing a massive crowd gathered on a street is being shared on social media, claiming to show visuals of a recent protest against the President Lula da Silva-led government in Brazil.

• Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), shared this claim on his account on the platform, gathering over seven crore views.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of more posts sharing the claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the photo is old.

• It dates back to February 2024, and it shows people expressing their support for former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro amid a legal probe by the country's apex court.

How did we find out the truth?: We ran a reverse image search on the viral image using Google Lens.

• This led us to an article by CNN, which shared a similar photo in a report dated 25 February while reporting on a rally called by former President Jair Bolsonaro.

CNN shared the same visual in February 2024.

(Source: CNN/Screenshot)

A comparison of both visuals shows some similar elements in both of them.

Both visuals show similar elements.

(Source: X/CNN/Altered by The Quint)

The same photo was also published in an opinion piece, found on regional Brazilian news website Jornal De Cidade.

This is a translated version of the article.

(Source: Jornal de Cidad/Screenshot)

• Several social media users also shared the photo as one of a rally in support of Bolsonaro in February.

• Some of those posts can be seen here, here, and here.

Several social media users shared the same image in February 2024.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

Conclusion: An old photo showing a rally in support of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is being falsely shared as one of a recent protest in Brazil.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)