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FACT BRIEF

Does a viral photo with a large mass of people show an anti-COVID-19 vaccination protest in Austria?

By Christiana Dillard
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NO

The image making the rounds on social media actually shows Russians gathered in 1991 to protest the leadership of the country at the time.

The post featured a cropped and differently-toned version of the original image, with text superimposed alluding to anti-COVID-19 vaccination protests in Austria in November 2021. Those protests were in response to a national lockdown in the country, which was to last longer for unvaccinated Austrians. Austrians also protested a mandate requiring all eligible residents to be vaccinated against COVID-19, which was to go into effect on Feb. 1, 2022.

The image used in the viral post was taken by The Associated Press on March 10, 1991, in Moscow. The crowd of about 500,000 people was gathered to demand that then-President Mikhail Gorbachev — the last leader of the Soviet Union before it broke apart — step down from power.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
AP Images Russia Unrest 1991
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.