What was claimed
Videos and images show real footage from riots in France.
Our verdict
False. The footage is either AI-generated or not related to the French riots.
AAP FACTCHECK - Fake footage of protesters and rioters in France is spreading online following days of civil unrest in the country.
Some of the content is AI-generated, while other footage is old imagery unrelated to events in France.
One video shared on social media claims to show “illegal migrants” hanging a Palestinian flag and a Jordanian flag on the Eiffel Tower, but it's fake.
Meta's AI identification tool detected AI signatures in the video, indicating it was created or edited with generative AI.
There are no credible reports of such an incident taking place at the Paris landmark in October.
A smaller Palestinian flag was unfurled on the first floor of the landmark in May, 2026, but footage of the act published by Al Jazeera bears no resemblance to the recent video.
The social media clip also contains visual inconsistencies that suggest it is AI-generated.
The red-and-white pole seen in the fake video at the top of the tower does not match authentic images of the structure.
Additionally, the people on the tower's top platform appear disproportionately large compared with other genuine photos of the platform.
The video was also shared on X, where it gained more than six million views.
Another video claims to show looters in black hoodies brazenly stealing shoes and clothing from a sports store during the unrest.
“Mass Looting Amid Protests in France!” the video caption reads.
However, while the video is genuine, it isn’t from France.
Instead, the footage shows a “flash mob” ransacking a Nike store in Los Angeles in November 2023, as US media outlet CBS News reported.
“The flash mob moved through the Nike store undisturbed as they cleared shelves filled with shoes and ripped clothing off the racks before stuffing them into large blue bags,” CBS News reported.
BBC News and many other media outlets also covered the story in 2023.
An old video of street vendors in Spain is similarly being mislabelled as being related to the riots in France.
The video shows men who appear to be selling clothes and handbags to pedestrians on a busy shopping street.
Many social media posts falsely claim the video shows the results of looting in France, including an October 21 Facebook post that includes the caption: “Expensive Items Looted in France Now Being Sold on the Streets!”
The video has been widely shared on social media, alongside claims it relates to the French unrest, but the clip was filmed in Madrid, Spain, not France.
Spanish fact-checking organisation Maldita found the original video was posted on X on October 12.
A translation of the post stated it showed street vendors “on the sidewalk between Gran Via and Callao, one of Madrid’s busiest streets”.
The X video was posted five days before the French protests escalated into widespread riots on October 17.
Google Street View confirms the video was taken next to the Gran Via metro station entrance.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked a viral image claiming to show an elderly couple stripped and robbed by rioters in Paris, and an image purporting to show an aerial view of Paris burning after the unrest. Both images are AI-generated.
The unrest in France in October 2026 followed protests demanding greater investment in education and action on the rising cost of living.
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