FACT-CHECK: Video shared implying new influx of migrants to Lampedusa is old

Video dates back to 2023

CLAIM

A video has been widely shared over several days in late March, 2024, showing a large crowd of young men, described as “illegal immigrants” arriving on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, with some sources claiming the footage shows a recent event.

---

BACKGROUND

The video was shared by several X accounts with large numbers of followers. The @RadioGenoa account has a listed follower count at the time of publication of more than 578,000. The post from the account on March 24 had by March 27 been reposted some 4,500 times.

While this post did not make the claim that the video portrayed a recent event, there were others that did.

A post from an account with more than 136,000 followers posted a link to the video with the claim that the arrivals had come over the preceding weekend.

---

METHOD

A search for references to 7,000 migrants arriving in Lampedusa, filtered for video results, led to a BBC report from September 15, 2023. From 2:41 in that video, the same men can be seen.

---

RATING

Old. The content has been misrepresented as showing a recent event. The video is from September 2023.

---

SOURCES

X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: When 7000 illegal immigrants arrived in Lampedusa in 36 hours. [Accessed 27 Mar. 2024].

X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: Este fin de semana han llegado a Lampedusa una nueva avalancha de más de 7000 inmigrantes ilegales. [Accessed 27 Mar. 2024].

News, B. (2023). Lampedusa: 7,000 migrants arrive on Italian island in three days – BBC News. YouTube. Available at: here [Accessed 27 Mar. 2024].