A TikTok video shared by multiple Facebook (FB) users falsely claimed that where a one-child policy is in effect, children of couples with more than one offspring are incinerated. The clip used in the video was taken from a futuristic movie.
“Grabe ganito pla [sic] sa lugar pag ‘one child policy’ | sinusunog yung mga nahuhuli nilang sobra na anak (So this is what happens in a place with a one child policy | captured children of families that violate the policy are incinerated),” the video’s in-text caption claimed.
This is not true. China, the only country that strictly implemented a one-child policy from 1980 up to 2015, did not incinerate children of couples who violated the rule. It enforced a system of fines for violators and often forced abortions. If fines are not paid second children cannot be registered, thus will not be entitled to social services like healthcare and education.
Reverse image search reveals that the clip came from the trailer of the 2017 dystopian film What Happened to Monday. Set in a futuristic U.S. the specific scene shows a child being incinerated in accordance with the one-child policy.
Note: Click on the photo to view its original source.
Under China’s one-child policy, couples who had more than one child paid fines, risked losing their jobs, and hid from family planning officials. Female infants were killed because male children were more preferred in Chinese society.
The one-child policy is no longer in place in China after it allowed all families to have two children from 2016 to 2021. The Chinese government currently observes a three-child policy.
The erroneous FB Reels got a total of 50,377 interactions, while the TikTok video posted by user @jjgmotovlog accumulated over 1.3 million interactions. Some people who thought the video is real criticized child killers as demons, while others pointed out it’s just a movie.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)