"SHOCKING: Another church is burned down in Canada by Muslim immigrant," says an August 7, 2026 post sharing the video to X from an account called "Khan Fatima," which resembles a suspended profile that previously spread other false claims about immigrants starting church fires (archived here) .
The clip shows a fire engulfing a church spire, causing it to collapse.
Conservative US commentator David Harris Jr, who has also shared several false claims debunked by AFP, amplified the claim on Facebook and implied the fire had just taken place.
The video and screengrabs of it spread across Facebook, X, Instagram and Threads in several languages, including French, Spanish, Vietnamese and Haitian Creole. Some posts claimed the supposed arson was the result of "Islamization," while others called for a stop to alleged "Christian genocide."
AFP has repeatedly fact-checked similar misinformation about "Islamists" and migrants starting church fires in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Some August 2026 posts pushing the claim about "Islamist immigrants" burning a church misused different footage of a 2024 incident in Quebec -- an allegation that AFP previously debunked after officials ruled that fire an accident.
The video of the crumpling spire is similarly misrepresented.
Reverse image searches revealed that the clip is over a year old and shows the Église de l'Immaculée-Conception, which burned down July 17, 2025 in Saint-Ours, Quebec, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of...
Weeks before Michigan voters headed to the polls in a closely watched primary, the Trump administration and prominent election deniers pounced on the key battleground state. They quickly revived y...