Does a viral video show crowds celebrating the result of the 2026 U.S. midterms in Melbourne, Australia? No, that's not true: It is an old video from 2022. It showed Australian soccer fans celebrating a victory by their national team during one of the games of that year's FIFA World Cup.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) on Instagram where it was published by @nexmediabharat on Nov. 4, 2026. The caption read:
Crowds gathered in Melbourne, Australia, as celebrations followed the historic US midterm results, with Texas turning blue for the Democrats. 🇺🇸 Democrats won control of both the House and Senate, marking a major setback for President Donald Trump. Texas also saw major Democratic victories, ending decades of Republican dominance in key statewide races. The results signal a major shift in US politics and a strong message from American voters. Source: Reuters, The Texas Tribune
#USMidterms #Texas #DonaldTrump #nexmedia #nexmediabharat
This is what the video shared in the post looked like on Instagram at the time of publication:
(Image source: post by @nexmediabharat on Instagram.)
The clip showed a crowd dancing under the night skies, with some fireworks seen in the background. The implication was that the video authentically captured celebrations in Australia related to the outcome of the 2026 U.S. midterms that gave Democrats control over Congress (archived here).
The footage, however, had been online since Nov. 30, 2022 (archived here and here), when it was published on X by @jamessmartLP, a Melbourne-based photographer (archived here), under the following caption:
Goal!!!! Hectic scenes here at Fed Square! Go the @Socceroos #AUSDEN #FIFAWorldCup #socceroos - at Federation Square.
The video was recorded during the 2022 World Cup hosted by Qatar (archived here) on the day Australia beat Denmark (archived here) in a World Cup game.
At the time, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (archived here), a national public media service, also reported (archived here) that Federation Square, the Melbourne site mentioned in the photographer's post and independently confirmed by Lead Stories based on the visual clues matching the appearance of the spot on Google Maps, became the scene of soccer fans' celebrations.
The same claim was also reviewed by AFP Fact Check here.
