Staged video shared as 'immigrants harassing' a French woman

What's the claim?

A video is circulating on Facebook with captions falsely claiming that it shows a French woman being harassed by two "immigrants" until a man and his dog intervene and chase them off. 

The video shows two men talking to a woman on a park bench in French with their faces blurred out. The men are heard repeatedly asking the woman for her social media and contact details, which she refuses to give them. The man who is filming interrupts them with his dog on a leash and asks them to leave the woman alone, which they refuse to do. The cameraman is then heard warning them that the dog does not like when women are attacked and that he will go after them if they do not leave. He then gives the dog a verbal command. The video ends with the dog barking and attempting to run towards the two men to attack them while the cameraperson holds onto the leash and the men flee. 

"A young French lass is harassed by two 'new frenchmen' so a man and his Alsatian intervene. Good doggie," one post reads. Archive links to the posts can be found here and here.

Screenshot of a Facebook post sharing a video saying that it is of a French woman being harassed by two immigrants. (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found that the video is not of a real incident but a scripted one uploaded on TikTok by a French dog trainer intended to highlight his dog's training.

What we found

A reverse image search led us to the original video (archived here) uploaded on September 15, 2024 by a French dog trainer on TikTok. We also found the video uploaded on his Instagram (archived here) on the same date. The cameraperson is named Aymane Arsalane, according to his social media account. The captions on both posts refer to the calm and concentration of the dog, named Red, who barks and attacks the two men when given a command.

The caption of the post on TikTok contains a hashtag clarifying that it is a fake situation along with other hashtags like mise-en-scene and agent cynophile. (Source: TikTok/Markup by Logically Facts)

In the TikTok post, the user has added a hashtag "fakesituation" and also left a comment saying the same on Instagram. Another hashtag on the TikTok post reads "agentcynophile," a security agent with a trained dog. Another hashtag, "mise-en-scene," is a French theatrical term that refers to the set up of a set or stage for a film or theatre production. These hashtags and clarifications indicate that this is a staged video made by the user to highlight his dog's training in different situations.

Arsalane's social media accounts have other videos of scenarios highlighting the dog's security training. We also found other videos where the alleged "migrants" and the woman being "harassed" have featured, including one skit (archived here) where they are playing each other's partners.   

The woman in the video has appeared in other videos by the person who originally uploaded the videos, including several where she plays the partner of the "migrant" harassing her according to viral claims. (Source: TikTok/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

We also found other videos (archived here) on the dog trainer's social media handles featuring both the alleged migrants and the woman. According to the text overlaid onto this video, the woman is a subscriber confronted by a jealous boyfriend, who is played by the person alleged to be a migrant harassing the woman in viral posts.

The men identified as migrants according to viral claims have appeared in other skits made by the dog trainer. (Source: Youtube/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

Arsalane has similar accounts on Facebook and Youtube (archived here and here). 

The original poster has uploaded several such videos to highlight the training of his dog "red". (Source: Instagram/Screenshot)

Logically Facts has reached out to Arsalane for comment on the viral video. This fact-check will be updated if and when we receive a response.

The verdict

The viral video is being shared with a false claim. The incident in the video is not real and shows a situation staged by the original poster who is a dog trainer to highlight his dog's training.