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| - Fact Check: Islamification of UK? Nope, viral pic of Arabic street signs is photoshopped
The origins of this hoax can be traced back to 2016 when it was first debunked.
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India Today Fact Check
The viral photo is photoshopped and not real.
A viral picture of a street sign, claiming to show English place names alongside their Arabic translations in Yorkshire, England, has sparked allegations of the “Islamification of the UK.” An archived version of the post can be seen here.
India Today found that the photo is manipulated and not real.
Our Probe
Using Google Translate, we found that the Arabic words don't correspond to the translated place names but instead include absurd phrases, like "As-Salaam-Alaikum", a common Arabic greeting that means "Peace be unto you", and "Refugees welcome you".
Further, a reverse search led us to a 2016 report by Metro.co.uk, which labelled it as a fake and the result of "cunning use of Photoshop." An earlier post by a Twitter user from the same period contained the authentic photo of the signboard without the purported Arabic translations, confirming it as photoshopped.
The Independent reported in 2016 that the manipulated photo first surfaced on the anti-refugee conservative website The New Observer, which later acknowledged being a victim of an "elaborate hoax" and removed the story, issuing a statement on its Facebook page.
We also examined the historical imagery on Google Street View to determine if the signboard had ever been altered to include Arabic translations. From 2012 to 2022, the signboard maintained its original form, as supported by the available data. We did not find Street View images from 2013, 2014, 2021, and 2023.
The year-wise historical evolution of the location can be seen below.
Thus, it’s clear that the viral image is a hoax.
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