Claim: A video shows a large group of people sleeping in an open ground after losing their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires.
Fact: The claim is false because the video is from 2023 and shows people, who attended the “ World Youth Day” in Lisbon, Portugal, sleeping in Tejo Park.
On 24 January 2025, a Facebook user posted a video with the caption that, translated into English, reads:
“The strength of my Lord,
Never boast of wealth and power.
These are the richest people in the world.
All these people used to live in big neighbourhoods and luxury houses worth billions and drive around in big luxury cars ten to fifteen days ago.
Now they have become among the poorest people.
These are the people of Los Angeles, America, whose houses have been destroyed by fire.
Now they are forced to sleep on plains and roads.
May Allah protect us from trials”.
Another user wrote, “America Los Angeles California United states fire 🚒🚒 Ageen round to the Los Angeles California Allah hu Akbar this is the people of California parward [forward] in the Adar city”
LA wildfires
Los Angeles has recently battled two major fires, the Palisades and Eaton fires. While authorities have not yet provided a definitive cause of the Los Angeles fires, investigations by The Washington Post and The New York Times suggested that remnants of a New Year’s Eve blaze may have played a role.
Both publications also identified on the map the approximate point on the map where the fire started, which is extremely close to a “burn scar” left after the aforementioned New Year’s Eve blaze next to the Temescal Ridge trail near Skull Rock.
Over 27 people have died and 14,362 structures destroyed, NBC4 Los Angeles reported on 20 January.
Fact or Fiction?
To investigate, Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse-image search on the video’s keyframes through InVID – a video analysis tool.
The results led to a TikTok video posted on 6 August 2023 with a Spanish language caption that translates into English as, “This is how the million and a half young people spent the night in Lisbon”. The post also included some of the following hashtags: #Lisboa #Lisboa2023 #JMJ2023 #JMJ2023Lisboa #lisboaportugal #jovenes #jornada #peregrinos #jornadamundialdajuventuderío2023 #popefrancis.
Taking cues from this, we did a keyword search on Google with “Pope Francis, Lisbon, JMJ 2023” which led to a YouTube video report, published on 6 August 2023 by French news outlet France 24. In English, the description of the video reads, “A human wave of 1.5 million people flooded Lisbon for the vigil of World Youth Day presided over by Pope Francis. The number of people present in an immense esplanade set up for the occasion on the banks of the Tagus was provided by the Vatican, citing an estimate from the Portuguese authorities”. The video incorporated the same visuals as that of the viral video.
World Youth Day (WYD) also known as “Jornada Mundial da Juventude de” in Portuguese is a recurring Catholic festival. In 2023, the event was held in Lisbon from 1 – 6 August. According to Reuters, around 1.5 million people attended the event in Parc Tejo (Tejo Park) and slept on the ground outdoors.
We also found stock images of the event on Alamy and Shutterstock, and the landmarks are similar to those of the viral video.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, confirms that the video does not show people who lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025.
Virality
On Facebook, the video received 25,000 views, 200 likes and 14 comments. It can also be seen here and here.
The video was also shared on Instagram and X in different languages.
Conclusion: A video does not show people sleeping on the roads after losing their homes in the recent LA wildfires. The original video is from 2023 and shows millions of people, who had attended the World Youth Day event in Lisbon, sleeping outdoors.
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Background image in cover photo: AFP
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