The claim: Video shows human trafficking victims in back of truck in Atlanta
A June 26 Instagram post ( direct link , archive link ) includes a video showing a person’s arm sticking out of the back of a commercial moving truck as it drives down a highway.
“2 DAYS AGO: Human trafficking bust in Atlanta,” reads the caption on the post. “Stay safe, y’all!”
It garnered more than 7,000 likes in a week. Other versions of the claim spread widely on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter .
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Our rating: False
The Gwinnett County Police Department said it pulled over the vehicle in the video and that the occupants were families moving from Alabama to Maryland. There was no evidence of trafficking, and the driver was ticketed for passengers not wearing a seatbelt.
Passengers were 'not tied up or in distress'
Contrary to the claims in the viral posts, officials found no evidence of human trafficking when they pulled over the truck in the video as it traveled along Interstate 85 on June 21, according to Gwinnett County Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Collin Flynn . The department is around 30 miles northeast of Atlanta.
There were eight people, including two minors, from two families in the back of the vehicle, Flynn said. They each told officers the group was moving from Alabama to Maryland for a new job opportunity.
“They were not tied up or in distress,” Flynn said, adding that the occupants' personal items were also in the vehicle.
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The driver, who was not identified in the news release, was ticketed for allowing passengers to ride without seatbelts, Flynn said. Officers dropped those passengers off at a nearby business so they could find another way to get to Maryland.
Atlanta-based outlets, in cluding WSB-TV and WAGA-TV, also reported the incident was unrelated to human trafficking.
USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims related to human trafficking, including false assertions that President Joe Biden rescinded former President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting child sex trafficking on his second day in office, that Etsy is trafficking children , proving the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory is real, and that human traffickers were marking cars to identify future victims in Pennsylvania in 2022.
USA TODAY reached out to several users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Video shows passengers without seatbelts, not trafficking victims | Fact check
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