What was claimed
A video shows a Moroccan migrant filming himself with a selfie stick while swimming into the Spanish territory of Ceuta off the coast of North Africa.
Our verdict
False. This video was actually taken in a harbour in El Jadida, Morocco, which is over 250 miles away from Ceuta.
A video clip of a man filming himself swimming using a selfie stick has been shared online with false claims it shows a “Moroccan migrant” entering the Spanish territory of Ceuta on the North African coast.
On 30 July, around 60,000 migrants entered Ceuta from Morocco, with many swimming and using inflatables. But the clip being shared online was actually filmed in a harbour in El Jadida, Morocco, which is 257 miles (413km) away from Ceuta.
The viral video has been variously captioned as “Moroccan migrant filmed himself with a selfie stick while swimming into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta” and “A Moroccan migrant documented his own dangerous journey, swimming across the border to Ceuta”.
We traced the clip to an Instagram post dated 29 July, the day before thousands of migrants entered Ceuta. The account regularly posts videos of the same man swimming in the same area. The 29 July post says the location is El Jadida city and we matched background features to a harbour in El Jadida, Morocco.
Join 74,000 newsletter subscribers who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
The man behind the account posted again on 1 August to show he was in El Jadida and was also interviewed by a Moroccan outlet after the clip went viral. In the interview he said he didn’t emigrate to Spain and that his hobby is swimming in El Jadida.
We often see miscaptioned images and videos being shared widely on social media. Before reposting something you see, first consider whether it comes from a reliable and trustworthy source. Our toolkit can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because this video was actually taken in a harbour in El Jadida, Morocco, which is 250 miles away from Ceuta.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Fact checking claims made by politicians, public figures and viral online content can give you the full picture backed by the evidence.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.