FACT CHECK: Video doesn’t show Antarctica as an ‘ice wall’ around ‘flat Earth’
The video misrepresents the Anjihai Grand Canyon in Xinjiang, China as the Antarctica ‘ice wall,’ claiming it as proof of the scientifically disproven flat Earth theory
Claim: A video shows Antarctica is an “ice wall” surrounding a flat Earth.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The video, posted on Facebook Reels, has garnered 4,900 reactions, 3,300 comments, and 593 comments as of writing.
The video shows a supposed “ice wall” accompanied by the text “The flat Earth ice wall they call it Antarctica.” Based on the comments, the video implies that Antarctica is not a continent, but a wall of ice surrounding the world, proving the flat Earth theory.
The bottom line: The video does not show an Antarctic ice wall nor does it show proof that the Earth is flat.
A reverse image search shows that the video is about the Anjihai Grand Canyon, located in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in China’s northwest.
The original video was posted on March 18, 2020 by People’s Daily, a Chinese state-controlled media network. The original video’s caption reads: “You may discover how tiny and frail we human beings are when compared with the nature in Anjihai Grand Canyon, NW China’s Xinjiang.”
The misleading Facebook reel heavily edited the original video, reversing the images and adding a blue hue to give the impression of an “ice wall.”
Other news agencies, such as USA Today and Reuters, have debunked similar posts falsely claiming Antarctica is an ice wall.
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Anjihai Grand Canyon: According to the China Global Television Network, the Anjihai Grand Canyon is also known as the Hongshan (Red Mountain) Grand Canyon. Sitting at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the canyon, which comprises steep cliffs and jagged rocks, stretches around 30 kilometers and has an estimated depth of 400 meters.
Flat Earth theory: Comments on the misleading Facebook reel show arguments for the flat Earth theory, which claims that the Earth is not actually a sphere but a flat disk with a ring around it holding in the Earth’s water.
The theory has been debunked for thousands of years, tracing back to ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Eratosthenes. However, the theory has continued to persist to this day despite scientific evidence to the contrary. – Katarina Ruflo/Rappler.com
Katarina Ruflo is a Rappler intern. She is currently pursuing a degree in Political Science with a major in International Relations and Foreign Service at the University of San Carlos, Cebu.