Misleading: This Chongqing factory protest video was taken last year
A video showing protesters confronting Chinese riot police was widely shared in February on X with a claim that it depicts workers in China’s biggest COVID-19 antigen test kit factory in Chongqing.
The post said the factory “no longer receives massive orders because the authorities ended mandatory COVID-19 testing.”
It goes on to allege that the factory owner’s subsequent decision to “fire 20,000 workers” caused labor unrest. At the time of writing, it has 1,400 reposts and over 800 comments.
The same video and the claim appeared on a YouTube channel about “breaking news from China” with over 60,000 subscribers.
However, the video is not a recent clip. It was taken in January 2023 in a factory affiliated with a diagnostic reagents and equipment company named Zybio.
According to news reports by Reuters and Radio Free Asia, the demonstration took place in Chongqing on Jan. 7, 2023. A Douyin user who appeared to have been at the protest site that day also documented similar scenes.
Annie Lab also found an X account that posted a video showing the labor dispute on Jan. 8, 2023. The tweet says, “Employees of #ZY Bio angry for not getting salary #protest and #clash with police in Chongqing, #China.”
We compared the buildings and other visual clues in the 2023 video with the recently shared one and concluded that they were taken at the same time and at the same place.
We identified a protester who appears in different frames in both videos, wearing a pink hoodie, a dark coat and light pants.
This demonstration reportedly took place at the Zybio factory in Dadukou District, Chongqing City.
We tried to verify the location and came across another video by a Douyin user who seems to have been recording his daily work at a location tagged as Zybio’s factory in Chongqing.
The buildings in the background of this Douyin video look identical to the one shared on X and YouTube.
Another Douyin user’s video, titled “the memories of 2023” in English, features photos of the protest as well, which was dated Jan. 7, 2023.
