Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Pro-monarchy mass demonstration calls on the deposed king to come back and save the country.
Fact
Viral video shows a clip from 12th Dharan Charity Run organised in February.
A viral video allegedly showing a massive protest demanding the reinstatement of monarchy is going viral on social media.
The first elected Constituent Assembly declared Nepal Federal Democratic Republic on May On May 28, 2008, abolishing the 240-year-old institution of monarchy.
A Facebook user Harijan Munna posted a reel video showing a mass of people apparently taking part in a rally. Text superimposed on the video reads, “What is going to happen next? A massive rally calling on the King to come back and save the country.”
In the background audio, a person asks a question, “Sir from where these people converged? Are they all from here or where?” Another person is heard replying, “As you have seen it yourself that democracy and republican set-up have failed in the country, so it is obvious for the people to come on the streets when they feel that the country cannot progress without monarchy. That’s why these people have come here spontaneously without being influenced by any kind of petty interests.”
The video ( see the archived version here) posted on August 17 has garnered 6.5k likes, 792 users have shared it and 197 people have commented until the time of publishing this article.
Likewise, a TikTok user @uttamrai76 posted the same video on July 7 which has garnered 17.9k likes, 688 users have shared it and514 people have commented on it.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newscheker split the video into several key frames and ran Google reverse searches on them. A reverse search on a frame from the viral video led us to a video, dated February 24, 2024, posted on the YouTube channel named Puma Shakty.
On checking the video, we found that the video frame from 6.32-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. The video actually showed a clip from the 10k Run 12th Dharan Run organised earlier this year in February.
We also found another video, dated February 24, 2024, published on the YouTube channel named New Entertainment. We found that the video frame from 12.38-minute onwards bore close resemblance to the viral video. Thus, our findings clearly indicated that the viral video actually shows a clip from the 12th 10k Dharan Run organised in Dharan, Sunsari district earlier this year.
Thus, our findings clearly indicated that the viral video actually shows a clip from the 12th 10k Dharan Run organised in Dharan, Sunsari district earlier this year.
Conclusion
No, the viral video doesn’t show a huge mass protest organised calling for the king to come to save the nation. The viral video actually shows a clip from the 10k Dharan Run organised earlier this year in February.
Result: False
Sources
Puma Shakty /YouTube, Feb 24, 2024
New Entertainment Channel/YouTube, Feb 24, 2024
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
