The claim: Video shows UK police ‘coming after’ social media users
An Aug. 7 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a TikTok video of police officers sawing through the front door of a house and links the action to demonstrations across the United Kingdom.
“BREAKING NEWS. The UK police are coming after people who posted about the protests on social media,” text in the video states in part.
The post received more than 9,000 likes in two days. Similar versions shared to X, formerly Twitter, accumulated thousands of reposts.
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Our rating: False
The video shows a drug raid by UK police in May 2024 and is unrelated to the August 2024 protests.
Video shows drug raid, not police action against social media users
Riots broke out in Great Britain in early August 2024 after the July 29 stabbing deaths of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. A now-18-year-old faces murder charges, and social media users falsely identified him as a Muslim immigrant, sparking anti-Muslim protests and an attempted attack on a mosque. The government says it will prosecute those responsible for the riots, including those who used social media to incite violence.
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But that is not what’s happening in the Instagram video. Rather, it shows an unrelated drug raid that took place months before the riots.
The clip of officers using power saws to slice through the door matches video posted May 15 by an account that describes itself as an independent news outlet in Birmingham, England. It shows one of a series of drug raids that took place a day earlier across Manchester, involved about 300 officers and resulted in charges against 19 people, according to the video’s caption and the BBC.
The caption of the Aug. 6 TikTok video accurately states that it shows the drug raid and makes no reference to the riots. Text in the video correctly identifies the location as Manchester. The caption does, however, get the timing wrong by stating the raid took place “this morning” instead of in May.
USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response.
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