Has this Chinese man spoiled Valentine's Day for lovers by booking all two seats that next to each other at the cinema?

claim

A picture of an Asian man sitting on a bench in a movie theater spread on social media, and two empty seats next to him were placed signs on which were written in Chinese, phrases indicating that it is not allowed to sit on them. The publishers of the photo claimed that "the man reserved every two seats next to each other to spoil the lovers' Valentine's Day.".

As (Akhbar Alan) website published the image referred to in a tweet through its official account on the Twitter site on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, in which he said, "From the anecdotes and oddities of Valentine over the past years, a single Chinese man booked every two seats next to each other in the cinema, in order to spoil Lovers celebrate Valentine's Day and separate them from each other."

The photo, accompanied by the claim above, gained widespread on social media after accounts and public pages contributed to its publication, a sample of which you can see in the “claim's sources” table at the end of this article.

Refute the claim

Verify-Sy team conducted a search to verify the image that claimed is of “a Chinese man who spoils Valentine for lovers by reserving two seats next to each other in the cinema,” and it turned out that it was fabricated.

Where the results of the reverse search showed that the image was taken during July 2020 during the reopening of a cinema in Beijing, China, amid precautionary measures to limit the spread of the Coronavirus and restrict the number of seats to maintain social distance.

Cinemas in low-risk areas in China opened on July 20, 2020 to receive visitors after being closed for more than 170 days due to the outbreak of the Corona pandemic around the world, and China imposed restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus requiring that ticket sales be carried out separately to ensure that the distance between visitors More than one meter, the attendance rate for each field does not exceed 30%, the audience and employees wear masks, the cinema house checks the temperature for the audience, and cinemas have stopped selling snacks and drinks, and no food and drink are allowed in cinemas.

conclusion