No, this video doesn’t show a barricade in front of the US Federal Reserve building
Were barricades really set up outside the US Federal Reserve building, home to the central banking system of the United States? That’s what social media users have claimed, citing as proof a widely circulated video showing the building surrounded by a tall, white wall. It turns out, the video was filmed when the building was undergoing renovations.
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Social media users began circulating a video on July 8 showing the US Federal Reserve building surrounded by a white wall. They claimed that the building had been "barricaded" to prepare for possible repercussions in the wake of rising interest rates.
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It turns out, however, that the Fed, as it is called, has been undergoing renovation works since late 2022, which explains the wall’s presence.
The fact check, in detail
Could this be a warning sign of a new financial crisis in the United States? According to social media users, a barricade was set up outside the building that houses the US Federal Reserve, the central banking system of the United States, in Washington, DC— “probably preparing for when people realize the banks haven’t got their money,” said one social media user.
The video, which has garnered more than 1.4 million views on X since July 8 and also circulated widely on Facebook, shows the building surrounded by a white wall— turning it into an “enormous fortification”, according to Sylvano Trotta, a French conspiracy theorist and influencer on X.
Turns out, these claims are false. First of all, the video posted on July 8 isn’t recent. If you carry out a reverse image search (check out how by looking at our handy guide), then you will see that the video was posted on Tiktok way back in January 2023.
However, false claims that the Fed was being barricaded are even older. In November 2022, some social media users were already making the claim that people set up the barricades to protect the institution from people angry about the financial crash.
A building under renovation since 2022
In reality,the building that houses the Fed is under construction and the white wall is visible in the images is surrounding it. On Google Earth, you can see a satellite image of the building from July 2024. There, you can see the white wall, as well as the ongoing construction work behind it.
Another photo, published on Google Street View on July 2023 shows a sign on the wall in front of the building that says, in English, “Construction Entrance”, which shows that the works are ongoing.
The website for the National Capital Planning Commission, responsible for urban planning within the Washington region, says that the renovation work on the Fed was approved on September 2, 2022. They want to create a "new campus" for the 3,400 employees who work there for a cost of €38 million. The first phase of this renovation is supposed to be completed in 2030.
However, several economic indicators, like ongoing inflation and high interest rates demonstrate that the risk for a new financial crisis in the United States is real. The Federal Reserve tried to reassure people in a publication in late June stating that "stress tests" applied to US Banks demonstrate the solidity of the banking sector.