By Naol Kenie
Claim
A Facebook account shared a 38-second video clip claiming that a demonstration took place in Addis Ababa on the same day the user posted the content.
Verdict
False. After an investigation by our fact-checking team, it has been verified that the video clip is old and digitally altered.
Investigation and Findings
On April 16, 2026, a Facebook account shared a 38-second video clip claiming that a demonstration occurred in Addis Ababa that day. The video was shared with an Amharic caption that translates to: “Abiy Ahmed, who has tormented Mother Ethiopia, must be brought into custody! This was the protest echoed by the people of Addis Ababa today!”
The visual content of the video shows a crowd of people converging from two directions: one group moving from the Addis Ababa Mayor’s Office (Mazegaja) in Piassa toward the Tewodros roundabout, and another group coming from the Tikur Anbesa side toward the same location.
By the time this fact-checking article was published, the post had garnered more than 63,000 views and over 800 engagements. The video’s audio features a crowd singing along to a patriotic Amharic song with the lyrics: “ተከብረሽ የኖርሽው በአባቶቻችን ደም ፤ እናት ኢትዮጵያ የደፈረሽ ይውደም!” (You have lived in honor through the blood of our fathers; Mother Ethiopia, may any who violate you be destroyed!)
MFC applied various digital investigation techniques and open-source intelligence (OSINT) to assess the credibility of the claim. Using the InVID tool’s “key frame” feature, we extracted screenshots from the video and performed a reverse image search.
Old Footage from 2018 Repurposed
The results revealed that this 38-second clip was extracted from a 3:54-minute video originally posted to YouTube seven years ago, on September 17, 2018. Though we found another versions of the footage from that period, its audio did not match the one used in the viral claim. The original audio contained indistinct crowd noise rather than the patriotic song heard in the Facebook post.
Mismatched Audio Reveals Manipulation
To locate the source of the audio used in the claim, the team performed a keyword search for the lyrics.
We discovered the original audio was recorded during an incident at the Addis Ababa Stadium. The incident featured a match between Ethiopia Buna (Coffee) and St. George Football Clubs. At the event, fans of both clubs sang the song together as a show of unity. This stadium footage has been circulating on Facebook, X, and YouTube since July 2021. This confirms that the 38-second video is a “deadly dub”. This edited version combined visuals and audio from two entirely different events to mislead users.
No Recent Protest Verified On Ground
Additionally, MFC conducted a manual geographical check. The area between the Addis Ababa City Administration and the Tewodros roundabout has recently undergone significant changes. The changes mark lineaments resulting from the government’s “Corridor Development Project.” The video in the claim shows a street lacking bike lanes and new streetlights. Moreover, modern pedestrian paths that currently exist in that area are missing in the video clip.
Furthermore, no reputable news outlets or other social media users reported any demonstrations in the city on that day.
Conclusion
Based on our investigation, the claim that a demonstration took place in Addis Ababa on April 16, 2026, is false. The video used to support the claim is an old clip from 2018. It was edited with unrelated audio from 2021 to create a misleading narrative. Therefore, MFC rates this claim as False.
Reader Alert & Advice: In an era of sophisticated digital manipulation, “deadly dubs”, videos that pair real footage with unrelated, emotionally charged audio, are increasingly used to spread misinformation and incite unrest. We urge our readers to remain vigilant and skeptical of sensationalist content, even when it appears to feature familiar landmarks or popular anthems. Before sharing, always verify the information and check for confirmation from multiple reputable news sources to avoid becoming a link in the chain of disinformation.
