A fake video circulating on social media in Greece falsely portrays demonstrations from last February as anti-migrant and refugee protests. The video has amassed nearly 1.2 million views on Twitter, with Euro News reporting that many of these views were artificially boosted by bot-like fake accounts as part of a coordinated disinformation campaign.
An investigative journalism team confirmed that the demonstrations in the video took place on February 28 in Syntagma Square, central Athens. Tens of thousands had gathered to mark the second anniversary of the Tempe train collision, which claimed 57 lives. The protests coincided with a one-day general strike affecting both the public and private sectors.
The 2023 incident sparked widespread anger among Greeks, leading to demonstrations in several cities to protest the negligence that resulted in the deaths of dozens. More than two years later, no trials have taken place regarding this case.
A day before the protests, authorities released a report on the incident, attributing the disaster to poor infrastructure, organizational failures, and human error. Families of the victims and opposition figures dismissed the report’s conclusions, accusing the government of neglecting to implement promised reforms by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and not taking the investigation seriously. The situation escalated, resulting in a parliamentary vote of no confidence against the government, which was ultimately rejected.
The disinformation campaign targeting migrants and refugees started when Radio Europe released a video alleging that the demonstrations on February 28, which featured significant rioting and calls for the government’s resignation, were aimed at irregular migrants and refugees. The video also claimed that Greece was accepting over 500 migrants daily. However, this assertion is contradicted by data from the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, which indicates that Greece received only 40 migrants during the week-long protests.
According to the team, the news is false and part of an organized disinformation campaign. The video’s views were inflated by fake accounts, reaching more than 1.2 million. The news was circulated in several languages, including English, French, Polish, and Spa
