As hundreds and thousands of spectacular fireworks videos flooded social media on Diwali, one purported to show how the festival of lights is celebrated in Saudi Arabia. In it, fireworks can be seen lighting up the sky behind several highrises. Men and burqa-clad women could be seen watching the display.
Sharing the video, an X user wrote“Diwali celebration in Saudi Arabia. The Arab world is moving towards light from darkness.” A Facebook user wrote: “Saudi Arabia witnesses Diwali celebrations, whereas liberal governments in India tend to curtail our festive traditions.”
India Today Fact Check found that the video is old and does not show Diwali celebrations in Saudi Arabia in 2024.
Our Probe
Reverse-searching keyframes from the viral video led us to various Facebook pages and Instagram accounts featuring the same video. A Facebook page called Pak Qatar Community shared the clip on September 23 this year and wrote: “Saudi Arabia’s 94th National Day.” This made it evident that the video predates Diwali, which was celebrated on October 31 and November 1 this year.
Several other Instagram accounts and YouTube channels also shared the same video, claiming it to be from Saudi Arabia’s National Day celebrations.
What is Saudi Arabia’s National Day?
National Day in Saudi Arabia is celebrated on September 23 to commemorate the day in 1932 when King Abdulaziz Al Saud unified the different tribal areas into one country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This event was important for creating a shared national identity and government. It is a national holiday in the country.
Interestingly, during the course of our investigation, we found that the video is not from this year’s National Day celebrations in Saudi Arabia. The same video was shared on another Instagram account on August 27 with the caption, “Welcome to Dubai.” This means it could not have been from National Day celebrations in 2024.
We tried to find out whether any fireworks displays took place in Saudi Arabia on or before August of this year. We discovered that a similar celebration was held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, after the country had won hosting rights to Expo 2030 in November 2023.
Using Arabic keywords, we found a video of fireworks and drone display that was live on November 29, 2023, on the official YouTube channel of the Royal Commission in Riyadh.
This video featured a large multi-storey building covered with green lights, which matched the viral video. Visuals similar to the viral video can be seen around the three-minute mark. This indicates that the viral video likely dates back to November 2023.
While we can not confirm the exact date of the video, it is clear that it is unrelated to this year’s Diwali Celebrations in Saudi Arabia.
(Translated by Abhishek Pathak)
