Lighthouse Journalism found a video being widely shared on social media platforms. The video featured the demolition of a grave in a burial ground. It was claimed along with the video that after demolishing mosques in India, now even the graveyards were being demolished.
During the investigation we found that the video is not from India but instead is from Bali.
Claim:
Facebook user সত্যের প্রতীক হাতপাখা shared the viral video with the claim: After demolishing Muslims’ mosques in India, now graveyards are being demolished as well. #India
Other users are also sharing the video with similar claims.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
During the reverse image search we found that the video was also being shared as being from Kenya.
We came across a video on Instagram. The caption said: Videos circulating online have highlighted burial practices in Bali, Indonesia, where limited cemetery space has reportedly led to the exhumation of older graves to accommodate new burials.
The source of the video in the caption was attributed to ABN.
We then checked the social media profile of “ABN TV”. This led us to a reel posted three weeks ago.
The caption said: Videos circulating online have highlighted burial practices in Bali, Indonesia, where limited cemetery space has reportedly led to the exhumation of older graves to accommodate new burials. | #AbnTv
We also found a post on the X (formerly Twitter) profile of Haluan Media from Jakarta.
The caption said: A video showing the process of dismantling an old tomb in one of the areas in Bali has caught the attention of netizens on social media. In the video, a number of residents are seen carrying out the dismantling of a tomb that has long been in use.
We then did a Google keyword search to find out if the news report was carried by a local news media outlet.
Through this we found that the video was uploaded by several other pages.
We also found that a news portal had carried an article about the same on May 28.
The article said: The limited availability of burial land seems to be becoming a serious problem on the Island of the Gods, Bali. We checked over 85 “cemeteries” listed in Bali on Google Maps.
Through the search one by one on Google Maps, we found, “Pemakaman Umum Umat Palasari Cemetery”. The graveyard looked very similar to the one being shared in the video.
We could track the keyframes at this location.
Conclusion: The viral video showing the exhumation of older graves to accommodate new burials from Bali is falsely being shared as if it were from India. The viral claims are false.
