A video allegedly showing a crowded market in Sweden claims the country is accepting too many immigrants. But the original clip was filmed in Syria.
Does a viral video prove that Sweden is overrun with migrants? That’s what some social media users and members of the far-right party Britain First are claiming.
A 20-second clip posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, purports to show a busy market in Sweden.
The users that shared it say it’s proof the country has “been occupied by migrants.”
“This is Sweden in 2023. Notice the lack of actual Swedes,” said the Chairman of the Britain First far-right party.
Where was the clip filmed?
By doing a reverse image search, The Cube found this video has nothing to do with Sweden. It was actually filmed in Aleppo, Syria.
The original eight-minute video was posted to YouTube in June 2022 by an account that describes itself as “documenting daily life in Syria.”
The portion of the video shown in the viral clip starts at the 1:03 mark in the original video.
According to the Youtube channel, the original clip was filmed in Aleppo’s Abbara Market.
To check if that’s true, we did another reverse image search at the 01:38 mark in the original Youtube video where you can see a distinctive sculpture and mosque.
The Cube found a stock photo displaying the same structure which confirms this was indeed filmed in the centre of Aleppo, Syria.
Does Sweden resettle the most refugees in Europe?
According to a 2023 report by the EU Agency for Asylum, it’s true that Sweden is the country that resettled the most amount of refugees in 2022.
In 2021, it was Germany that resettled the largest amount of refugees.
Germany, Sweden, and Norway received the majority of resettled refugees in Europe last year.
However, when looking at the number of refugees resettled, relative to the population of the countries that take them in them, the picture is slightly different.
When looking at data from 2008-2021, the countries that took in the most refugees compared to their population are Norway, Sweden, and Finland, according to the Migration Observatory.