Does a video on social media show Moroccan football players at the Paris Olympics doing throat-slitting motions and shouting "Allahu Akbar"? No, that's not true: That video was posted to Instagram in July 2023, when Morocco was participating in the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations. That competition was held in Rabat, Morocco, one year before the Paris Olympics started.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on July 25, 2024. It began:
Moroccan football players at the Paris Olympics are doing throat slitting motions and shouting Allahu Akbar. Deport them before they murder someone.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Tue Aug 6 17:40:28 2024 UTC)
The first instance of the video appearing online is a post on Instagram on July 8, 2023. The uniforms, players' gestures and background in this video are the same as in the video that is the focus of this fact check. At the time of the 2023 post, Morocco was competing in the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
This is what the 2023 post looked like on Instagram:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Tue Aug 6 19:21:05 2024 UTC)
Other Lead Stories fact checks about the Paris Olympics can be found here.
