Fact check: Video shows 2018 anti-Brexit protest, not recent cost of living protest

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·2 min read

The claim: Video shows cost of living march in London

An April 1 Facebook video shows aerial footage of thousands of people congregating in the streets of a city.

"London 01/04/23," reads text within the video. "Cost of living march."

The video was shared more than 4,000 times in less than a week. The clip was also shared on TikTok where it garnered more than 40,000 likes in the same amount of time.

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Our rating: False

While the video shows a march in London, it's unrelated to the recent cost of living crisis. It shows a 2018 anti-Brexitmarch.

Video shows 2018 anti-Brexit march

The cost of living in the U.K. has risen sharply since 2021, with the inflation rate reaching a 41-year high in October 2022, according to data provided by the U.K Parliament. In response, numerous large-scale protests have taken place across the U.K. in the last year.

But the Facebook post doesn't show a protest related to the cost of living.

It shows a 2018 protest against Brexit, which refers to the U.K.'s 2016 referendum to leave the European Union.

The same aerial footage of the protest, which took place in central London on the second anniversary of the referendum, was shared by CBS News on June 23, 2018.

The article accompanying the footage describes the scene:

"Tens of thousands of anti-Brexit protesters marched Saturday in London to demand a new referendum on leaving the European Union, as a divided Britain marked the second anniversary of its vote to quit the bloc."

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Aerial footage and photos of the march were shared at the time by outlets such as The Guardian and BBC.

After three and a half years of negotiations, the U.K. officially left the European Union on Jan. 31, 2020, according to Reuters.

USA TODAY was unable to reach out to the Facebook or TikTok users for comment.

The claim has been debunked by Lead Stories as well.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Video of march unrelated to British cost of living crisis