A Filipino YouTube channel is claiming that huge crowds recently gathered in Beijing to protest against an economic crisis in China. This is not true. No such protest took place in the Chinese capital.
Uploaded on Jan. 21, days after China released its economic growth figures for the last quarter of 2023, the video’s headline read:
“Lagot si Xi Jinping! Libu-libong katao nagprotesta sa Beijing dahil sa humihinang ekonomiya ng China (Xi Jinping is in trouble! Thousands of people protested in Beijing because of China’s weakening economy).”
Its thumbnail also bore a photo showing a huge crowd of protesters along with a text that said:
“Nagkagulo na sa Beijing! Milyon ang nawalan ng trabaho (It was chaos in Beijing! Millions lost their jobs)!”
No protests took place in Beijing after Chinese authorities reported a 5.2% gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2023. The said figure is above China’s 5% GDP target for last year but below the rate expected by foreign economic analysts.
Reverse image search also showed that the photo of protesters was old and not shot in Beijing. The original image was taken by Agence France-Presse in 2019 during a series of demonstrations in Hong Kong.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, is currently experiencing an economic slowdown according to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Analysts attribute this to several factors, including the country’s stringent COVID-19 policies and a youth unemployment crisis.
China recorded a record-high 21.3% unemployment rate for individuals aged 18-24 in June 2023. That statistic has since decreased to 14.9% in December after the government revised its data collection strategy.
Uploaded by YouTube channel PH TV, the video has garnered a total of 67,803 interactions.
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