False! Video of man set ablaze is from Nigeria, not Liberia

Claim: A video posted on Hope TV, Liberia suggested an angry crowd torched an alleged criminal in Monrovia.

Verdict: False! A reverse search of the video reveals that it is from Nigeria, not Liberia. 

Full Text 

With the growing wave of mob violence in Liberia lately, an online television named Hope TV-Liberia took to Facebook to show a harrowing video of a man being set ablaze whilst others stood watching. According to the station, the video was from Liberia.

The TV channel claimed that “an angry crowd allegedly set ablaze an alleged criminal in Monrovia.”

Comments under the post were mixed. Some called out the TV for spreading false information, while others expressed pity for the man in the video.

Screenshot of the comments.

As of this report, the video has garnered 39k views, 116 shares, 85 comments, and 43 reactions.

Given the gruesome nature of the video and its limited reporting in Liberia, DUBAWA verified it.

Verification 

Through an Invid verification tool, DUBAWA extracted key frames from the video, ran them through Google’s reverse image search, and found that the video was not from Liberia.

The search led us to a 2023 media report with the caption “angry mob burns man alive for trying to enforce sit-at-home order in Anambra.”

The publication carried an identical image of the burning man, as seen in the video published by Hope TV.

Screenshot of the media report

Several other media outlets also flagged the report that year, as it is seen here, here and here.

Conclusion 

Hope TV-Liberia’s video of a man seen ablaze is from Nigeria and not Liberia.