The Billboard Welcoming PM Hun Manet Displaying at Times Square Unreal
Cambodia’s current Prime Minister Hun Manet and his government senior officials participated in the UN annual assembly in New York City, the United States of America, last week. There, he also met Cambodian Americans who are supporters of the ruling party CPP.
Meanwhile, ex-Prime Minister Hun Sen – PM Manet’s father – claimed on his official Facebook page that a big screen billboard depicting Manet’s images was displayed at Times Square, New York City’s business hub to welcome his son’s visit.
The claim had been widely shared and commented on by Khmer-speaking social media users amid criticism from independent media outlets based outside Cambodia. However, running a Google Reverse Image Search proves the claim is false.
SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIM
Last week, ex-Prime Minister Hun Sen’s official Facebook page circulated a 46-secs video depicting images of Cambodia’s current Prime Minister Hun Manet on a billboard.
Hun Sen’s Facebook page claimed the billboard was organized at Times Square to welcome his son’s presence in New York City.
Below is the full video circulated by Hun Sen’s Facebook page with a caption saying “The billboard at Times Square – the center of New York City – welcomed the presence of Samdech Maha Bovor Thepadei Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia in the United States of America.”
The video had been shared a hundred times along with comments from social media users who apparently support the ruling party CPP and its government.
It had been reported by local media outlets and circulated on social media channels.
Below is the report of Fresh News – a local media outlet which is known as the government mouthpiece. It was also shared on the media outlet’s social media channel.
The Ministry of Information shared the same on its Facebook page. See the full video below along with the archived link.
The information ministry also shared it on X – former social media platform Twitter.
Without questioning if the video is real, the country’s labor minister Heng Sour also posted the video.
As it went viral on social media, the video can be watched via Gazette ប្រជាជន, លោក ឯម ច័ន្ទមករា (a secretary of state of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation), the Facebook page I Love Cambodia Hot News, ប្រសាសន៍ ឯកឧត្ដមកិត្តិទេសាភិបាលបណ្ឌិត ហ៊ុន ម៉ាណែត។
Below is the video shared on TikTok- one of the country’s leading social media platforms.
A lot of social media users had criticized the advertisement, saying the personal promote like this is a waste of the national budget.
However, PM Hun Manet downplayed the billboard, saying he did not know about this welcoming screen which he said was prepared by a Cambodian-American man named David Soth.
FACT CHECK
Fact Crescendo Cambodia began debunking the claim by running a Google Reverse Image Search which led us to find out the facts below.
The video sharing the same sequences was found in the website Fiverr – an online marketing company based in Israel.
Fiverr makes visual advertisement displaying on big screens at big cities around the world, but it clarifies the video is not a real life.
The less than 60-secs visual advertisement can be subscribed by paying between US$10 and US$30.
Below are two videos in comparison to find how they share the same motions and sequences.
CONCLUSION
Fact Crescendo Cambodia find out the claim mentioned above is false. The video circulated by ex-Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook page is false is not a real life at Times Square. It is a visual advertisement which was created in the Fiverr’s platform.
Title:The Billboard Welcoming PM Hun Manet Displaying at Times Square Unreal
Written By: Jay UdomResult: False
