Image used to illustrate fact check. Photo Source: TheBookResort.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: An X user shared a video allegedly showing Muslims vandalising a Christmas tree.
Verdict: Misleading! The video in question has been on the internet since January 2025. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest that the actors seen were Muslims.
Full Text
As people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ around the world, X users are circulating a video showing a group of people stripping a giant Christmas tree of its decorations. They said the “vandals” are Muslims.
This claim has spiralled into a controversy among Christians and non-Christians, with several condemning the action as disrespectful. Others are even questioning how the Muslims would feel if Christians did the same to them on “Eid.”
The video, which started spreading on Dec. 23, 2025, has been cumulatively viewed by over 2.5 million users, as seen here and here. Meanwhile, none of the people sharing it mentioned a specific place where it happened.
The subject of religion has always remained sensitive, and even a “little” social media post has proven to be capable of escalating situations if left unchecked. In the spirit of Christmas, DUBAWA decided to set the record straight with this fact check.
Verification
We conducted a reverse image search, which led to “nourhanrezk292,” an Instagram account that posted the earliest version of the video on Jan. 1, 2025. This user did not provide a specific description of what was happening; however, she added an Arabic caption to the video with two laughing emojis, which Google Translate interpreted as, “Christmas in Egypt is different.”
Through the landmarks in the footage, we were able to pinpoint the location where it was recorded to the Bosporus Open Air Mall (Madinaty) in Cairo Governorate, Egypt. This place is popular for its lakeside view and Turkish dining.
We scrolled through “nourhanrezk292’s” old posts and found she uploaded four different videos from the scene. The first two videos she posted on the same date featured fireworks being blown into the sky as spectators celebrated the arrival of the new year.
She added a caption that read, “Happy New Year for all of us, God willing.”
The third and fourth videos showed how the event snowballed, with some men climbing the Christmas tree and removing its decorations. As observed in the footage, the environment appeared calm, without confrontation or chaos, as they continued.
Unlike her first video, she did not caption these other two or verbally describe what was happening in them. Neither did she state whether the people involved were Muslims or not.
Likewise, the comments section had other users unsure of the actors’ identities. For example, Dev_Victory, a commenter wrote;
“I don’t know what to say if they are non-Muslims, a calamity is considered destruction of state property, and if they are Muslims, three calamities that cross his sect, defamation of Muslims, and mining on state property.”
Additionally, no news about the incident was published at the time of its occurrence. DUBAWA also contacted “nourhanrezk292” for comments, but she has yet to reply as of the time of this publication.
Grok flagged the viral video with misleading context
As the video recirculates in December 2025, Grok on X, flagged it with an explanation that it was from a 2016 “festive event at Mall of Arabia in Cairo, Egypt, during Coptic Christmas, where participants climb the tree to retrieve hidden gifts.”
As seen, here and here, DUBAWA found Grok’s context to be misleading. The two articles (archived here and here) that Grok referenced as evidence were from a completely different occurrence. Grok’s references displayed a video of an indoor Christmas tree, distinct from the outdoor Christmas tree under verification.
DUBAWA has, in the past, raised concerns over the methodology of Grok in determining what posts are true and which are false. Recently, Grok misled Nigerians into believing that the Nigerian Army had lied about a military exploit it made public via X. DUBAWA documented it here.
Conclusion
While there’s no evidence that those involved in the Christmas tree “vandalism” are Muslims, the video itself is not from a recent occurrence.
