Religious social media posts shamed the 'last gay' party before the pandemic — but the video in question was actually from years ago

• A widely-circulated video claimed to show the "last gay congregation" that took place in Italy before the coronavirus outbreak, but the clip is actually from a Brazilian Carnival party in 2018, AFP reports.
• In a Facebook post shared on March 31, a user used religious rhetoric to share the clip: "God has every right to be angry with humanity, this was the last gay conference in Italy before the virus attack," he said.
• Many of these posts remain live on social media as of April 14, despite the effort among tech companies to fight coronavirus misinformation.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A widely-circulated video on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter claimed to show the "last gay congregation" that took place in Italy before the coronavirus outbreak, seemingly placing partial blame for the pandemic on the LGBTQ community.

But the video, which shows a large gathering of men dancing and celebrating, is actually from a 2018 Carnival event in Brazil, according to AFP Fact Check.

In a Facebook post shared on March 31, a user used religious rhetoric to caption the clip: "God has every right to be angry with humanity, this was the last gay conference in Italy before the virus attack," he said. "Let's continue to pray for His mercy to prevail over judgment, just see what is going on couple with innocent blood crying for revenge." The post had been shared more than 1,000 times as of April 14, before it was removed from the website.

To confirm the post's veracity — or lack thereof — AFP used the InVID search verification tool, and found tweets saying that the video was actually from Brazil's annual Bahian Carnival. The news organization used other methods, including searching for the words seen on shirts worn in the video, to figure out where the video actually came from. Finally, they came upon a tweet from February 11, 2018, that shows the same crowd from the clip at the Bloco Crocodilo street party.

The clip and its false message continued to circulate on Twitter and Instagram with homophobic language. "God has every right to be angry with humanity," another tweet from April 5 said.

One Instagram account that shared the image on April 1 has 111,ooo followers. As misinformation has continued to run rampant online during the spread of COVID-19, a recent report from the Reuters Institute at Oxford University found that social media influencers — or users with large followings — were part of the group responsible for the most online engagement with false coronavirus claims.

Many of these posts remain live on social media as of April 14, despite tech companies' efforts to fight misinformation. Representatives for Twitter and Instagram did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

• Read more:
• Celebrities, politicians, and influencers are largely accountable for the spread of false coronavirus information, according to a new study
• The 10 most-viewed fake-news stories on Facebook in 2019 were just revealed in a new report
• Instagram is targeting fake coronavirus news and finally taking disinformation and hoaxes seriously
• Here's what we know about the bizarre coronavirus conspiracy theory that led to people setting fire to 5G masts