On social media platform X, a user named Bilal Akbar Lone on August 5th posted an image depicting some individuals inside a pool, and captioned it as “In Bangladesh, it’s so hot that people decided to cool off by turning Sheikh Hasina’s house into the newest public swimming pool.”
The post have garnered 2000 views at the time of writing this Fact-Check
Fact Check
DFRAC reverse-searched the image in question using google lens and found that the image actually originated from the footage that was broadcast by BBC News and Voice of America in their news articles published in 2022.
Many people from all over Sri Lanka came to the capital city, Colombo, to protest. They were upset about how the country’s money problems were being handled and the demonstrators entered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official residence and swam in his pool. They strongly demanded for Rajapaksa’s resignation amid the country’s severe economic crisis. Reports indicate the president was relocated to a secure location. Sri Lanka was grappling with severe inflation and struggling to import essential goods like food, fuel, and medicine at the time.
Conclusion
The claim misrepresents an old image from Sri Lanka as a recent event in Bangladesh. In reality, the image shows Sri Lankan protesters in President Rajapaksa’s pool during the 2022 economic crisis, not Bangladeshi citizens cooling off in Sheikh Hasina’s residence. Hence the claim made by the users is false.
Analysis: Misleading
