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.

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.

(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.

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

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

• 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.

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.

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