Does a viral video authentically portray the October 2025 Louvre robbery in Paris, France? No, that's not true: The clip is not authentic CCTV footage. The details of the scene in the viral video did not match the specific Louvre gallery where the theft took place. Additionally, French media reported that at least one of the robbers was wearing a yellow vest, while the vests worn by the two human figures in the video were orange.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on Threads on October 23, 2025, under the following caption:
Video de surveillance du braquage à Paris.
As translated by DeepL, it reads:
Surveillance video of the robbery in Paris.
This is what the clip looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at threads.com/@fukunomoto)
The video had a geotag pointing to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. It was a repost from an account on TikTok that initially published it on October 22, 2025, but was later deleted, days after the daylight Louvre break-in.
A press release (archived here) issued by the French Ministry of Culture offered details used to debunk this video: The thieves made their way to the Apollo Gallery, where crown jewels were on display, and proceeded to steal eight objects; one more item was later recovered by the authorities.
The appearance of the gallery in the video reviewed in this fact check did not match the visuals from the Louvre website (archived here) and the museum's YouTube channel (archived here). In particular, we can see that the walls in the clip appear gray and smooth, while the walls of the Gallery are, in reality, heavily ornamented with wainscoting, chair rails, mantels, casings and baseboard and crown moldings, all in gold and yellow colors.
The behavior of the supposed robbers, as shown in the viral clip also raises questions: They only break several protective glass barriers covering the jewels, but take nothing and run away.
On top of it, the location in the video lacks the paintings described in detail on the museum's website:
Le Brun decorated the gallery's vaulted ceiling with paintings of Apollo driving his chariot across the sky. Those along the central axis show the sun god's journey, marking the different times of the day from Dawn to Night. These are surrounded by a whole cosmos of images and symbols of everything that is influenced by variations in the sun's light and heat (the hours, days, months, seasons, signs of the zodiac and continents). The 'Gallery of Apollo', with its lavish carved and painted decoration, gave visual form to the sun's power over the whole universe, magnifying the glory of the Sun King. ...
The gallery's decoration was not completed until two centuries later, in 1850, under the direction of architect Félix Duban. To decorate the centre of the ceiling, Delacroix was commissioned for a 12-metre wide painting; the result, Apollo Slaying the Serpent Python, is a manifesto of French Romanticism. The wall decoration was also completed, with portrait tapestries of 28 monarchs and artists who had built and embellished the Louvre palace over the centuries.
This is what the Louvre's Apollo Gallery looks like in real life:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video by the Louvre channel on YouTube.com)
Then -- only seconds later, as the supposed robbers turn around, preparing to leave the scene -- the same spot suddenly displays vast scratches, which is not a realistic scenario:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at threads.com/@fukunomoto)
The appearance of one of the robbers is no less problematic, either. In one of the keyframes, that person lacks a face, hands and feet while seeming to have four anatomically incorrect legs:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at threads.com/@fukunomoto)
As reported by the BBC (archived here), the theft revealed that, unlike other major French museums, the Louvre had an old surveillance system that did not have enough cameras. Yet, some videos of the heist did emerge and were broadcast by major media outlets. One of them captured the thieves escaping the scene, but that clip showed the museum's exteriors. As reported by France 24 (archived here), it was recorded by security guards. However, that video was shot from the street and captured the moment of escape, not the museum's interiors:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video by France 24 English on YouTube.com)
The France 24 report, whose screenshot can be seen above, continued with an interview of a person working for another French outlet, Le Parisien. That man was said to have seen the authentic CCTV footage from the Louvre, which, despite the shortage of cameras, seemed to have captured at least some of the heist. The man said at least one of the robbers wore a vest that was yellow. Later, when on October 26, 2025, the Office of Paris Prosecutor (archived here) informed the public that the arrests were made in this case, Le Parisien (archived here) reported that genetic material from the yellow vest was one of the things that helped identify one of the suspects taken into custody.
In the clip reviewed in this article, both people were seen in vests, but their color was orange.
