A photo is being shared widely on social media with a claim that the Sri Lankan flag was displayed on the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai after the Sri Lankan cricket team won the Asia Cup on 11 September 2022. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo shows the Sri Lankan flag being displayed on the Burj Khalifa tower after their cricket team won the 2022 Asia Cup.
Fact: The photo is an old one. It is not related to the 2022 Asia Cup. The picture was taken in 2019 when the Burj Khalifa was lit up with the Sri Lankan flag to show solidarity after the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka. Also, there are no reports of the Sri Lankan flag being displayed on the Burj Khalifa tower after their cricket team won the 2022 Asia Cup. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the photo was run through Google Reverse Image Search, the same photo was found to be posted by a website in 2019. The photo is credited to ‘Giuseppe CACACE / AFP’. So, when searched with keywords, the same photo was on the ‘Getty Images’ website with the following description – “A picture taken on April 25, 2019 shows the Gulf emirate’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, lit with an image of Sri Lanka’s national flag in solidarity with the country following the April 21 “terrorist” attacks against hotels and churches celebrating Easter that killed more than 200 people.” A similar photo was also tweeted by the official Twitter account of Burj Khalifa in April 2019. So, the posted photo is an old one.
Also, there are no reports of the Sri Lankan flag being displayed on the Burj Khalifa tower after their cricket team won the 2022 Asia Cup. The official Twitter account of Burj Khalifa has also not tweeted anything about lighting up the tower with the Sri Lankan flag after the team’s recent victory.
To sum it up, the posted photo of the Sri Lankan flag being displayed on Burj Khalifa was not taken after the team’s victory in the 2022 Asia Cup.
