Viral photo of melted traffic lights not from Rhodes wildfires

A photo of a melted traffic light allegedly taken in the Greek island of Rhodes has been shared more than 1,000 times on Facebook. 

But this picture wasn’t taken in Rhodes, and is not recent. 

Approximately 19,000 people have been evacuated from Rhodes in recent days as huge wildfires have swept across the island, with as many as 10,000 British holidaymakers believed to be there. 

Along with much of southern Europe, Greece has seen very high temperatures during July. We recently checked another, very similar, post that used the same photo but claimed that it was taken in Bulgaria. And in June, Indian fact checkers published an article on the same picture, which had been shared alongside claims it was taken in the city of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. 

But the picture wasn’t taken in Greece or Bulgaria or India, and the traffic light wasn’t melted by the heat of the sun or wildfires. 

It was actually taken in Milan, Italy, last summer. Italian fact checkers Open reported in August 2022 on claims that a traffic light in Milan had melted as a result of a heatwave. 

However, spokespeople for the local fire and police services told the publication that the traffic light had melted as a result of a moped catching fire beneath it, not solely because of the weather. 

Misleading images are one of the most common kinds of misinformation we see online, but they can sometimes be hard to spot. 

It’s always worth checking if a picture shows what the post says it does before you share it—we have written a guide on how to do so here.