An image has been shared thousands of times in multiple posts on Twitter and Facebook which claim it shows overgrown shrubs at a theme park in Malaysia during a coronavirus lockdown.
The caption reads: “escalator sunway lagoon”., Sunway Lagoon is a theme park in Kuala Lumpur., It has been closed since March 18, 2020, the day Malaysia enforced a nationwide lockdown\xa0in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19. The lockdown has been extended until at least June 9, 2020., The same image has also been shared on Facebook here, here and here, alongside a similar claim., The claim is false., A reverse image search on Google found the image was posted on Instagram here May 8, 2019 by Instagram user\xa0espinas3., Its caption\xa0reads in part:\xa0“Destined to be green. Abandoned escalator”., 𓁿 𓁿 𓁿  𓁿 𓁿 𓁿 ᗗƄaпԀøп∈Ԁ ∈s⊂ⲁlⲁϮøг 𓁿 𓁿 𓁿 𓁿 𓁿D∈sϮiп∈Ԁ Ϯø Ƅ∈ gг∈∈п./緑になる運命。𓁿 𓁿【Size】A3+/329x483 𓁿 𓁿【Material】Alpolic 𓁿 𓁿©︎espinas3 2019 1/50 𓁿 𓁿 𓁿 𓁿 𓁿 𓁿 #royalsnappingartists#rsa_preciousjunk#infinity_undercore#JJ_urbex#sombrexplore#grime_lords#glitz_n_grime#abandonedafterdark#godsofbando#renegade_abandoned#ig_urbex#anonymousbando#allabandoned#urbex_kings#savethedecay#kings_abandoned#abandoned_addiction#nature_takes_over#japan_urbex#abandoned_excellence#theurbexchallenge#urbexchampions#bandorebelz#urbex_regards#abandoned#abandoned_seekers_#urbex_utopia#grime_reapers#廃墟 #reclaimedbynature2020, A post shared by  Nagasaki,JPN 𓁿URBAN EXPLORER𓁿 (@espinas3) on May 8, 2019 at 5:05am PDT, Below is screenshot comparison of the picture from the misleading post (L) and the Instagram post (R):, The Instagram account espinas3\xa0belongs to a photographer based in\xa0Japan who\xa0specialises\xa0in urban exploration photography., The photographer also posted photos at the same location; a caption of this picture says: “Abandoned amusement park”., A further keyword search found this picture from a May 2010 blog post identifying the location as Nagasaki Holland Village, an abandoned Dutch-themed amusement park in the Japanese city of\xa0Saikai in\xa0Nagasaki prefecture., Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading post (L) and pictures from the blog post (R):, Sunway Lagoon, the Malaysian theme park, also denied the claim in the misleading posts\xa0in a Twitter post published\xa0here on May 4, 2020., The Malay-language\xa0tweet\xa0translates\xa0to English as: “That’s a scary escalator, good thing ours are still good and not filled with leaves. But the idea can be used for Nights of Fright 8 bro. Got the feeling of entering a jungle looking for a ghost”., , , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
The picture has circulated online since 2019 and shows an abandoned theme park in Japan | AFP Fact Check