Are women in Europe really using pigs to avoid Muslim men?

This video fact-checks the truth behind these claims and shows how ordinary footage is being hijacked for misinformation online.

Transcript

00:00Are European women really walking pigs on leashes to avoid harassment by Muslim men?

00:04That's what several viral videos on social media claim.

00:07Take this one for example.

00:08A 13 second clip shows a woman strolling through the streets with a pig on a leash,

00:11calling it Dior.

00:13The caption, pretty straightforward.

00:14It implies that the pig is being used as protection against Muslim refugees.

00:18But here's the truth.

00:19Dior isn't part of any anti-Muslim strategy.

00:21He's actually a well-known pet pig from Rome, Italy.

00:24Often spotted walking alongside his owner with no connection to any protest or political statement.

00:29Europe is indeed facing a major refugee crisis,

00:32driven by escalating conflicts in the Middle East,

00:34resulting in a significant influx of migrants, many of them Muslims.

00:38This has sparked anxieties,

00:39especially after high-profile incidents like the UK grooming gang scandals,

00:43fueling a wave of misinformation and Islamophobic narratives.

00:47Another video, just seven seconds long,

00:48shows a French woman with a pig on a train.

00:50Again, the caption pushes the same claim.

00:52But when Radio Free Asia investigated the video in March 2025,

00:56their fact-check revealed a different story.

00:58Passengers were simply objecting to a pig being brought onto public transport.

01:02The woman was heard defending her pet,

01:04not discussing religion, safety or even harassment.

01:07So what's going on here?

01:08These viral pips, when stripped off their captions,

01:10tell very ordinary stories,

01:12a pet pig, a walk in the city or even a minor train dispute.

01:15So these videos are not really evidence for some racist trend.

01:18Instead, they are proof of how easily information can be manipulated

01:21and taken out of context on the internet.