Birmingham's New Year Eve Hoax: Thousands Tricked Into Non-Existent Fireworks Gathering

In a bizarre situation, thousands of Britons were duped into gathering at Birmingham's Centenary Square on New Year's Eve after being hoaxed into believing by social media scammers that a non-existent fireworks display was about to take place to celebrate the occassion. Based on social media rumors, the hopeful spectators arrived at the venue, only to be met with disappointment as no event had been organised, according to a report in The Guardian.

Images and videos showed thousands of people gathered in anticipation as the clock ticked past the midnight mark. Although there were some loud cheers as the year 2025 was ushered in, the promise of grand pyrotechnics turned out to be a damp squib.

"We're aware of speculation of a New Year's Eve fireworks display taking place in Birmingham's Centenary Square tonight - but we can confirm this is not the case," the West Midlands Police said.

Birmingham Updates is believed to be one of the social media accounts that disseminated the false news leading to the gathering.

"As a social media page we frequently source information from a number of sources including local journalists and third party sites, in light of this we are now reviewing our sources and editorial guidelines," said a spokesperson of the page which is run by a marketing agency called Nonsensical.

Notably, prior to the rumored event, Birmingham Superintendent Emlyn Richards had issued a warning, urging the public to not gather.

"We don't want people travelling unnecessarily into the city centre tonight to be left disappointed after discovering the event isn't taking place," said Mr Richards

Meanwhile in Birmingham

1000s people turn up for a new year firework show that never happened

A scam was going around on social media saying there was going to new year firework show..

When people turned up there was no firework show pic.twitter.com/u8rS8jSeSh

— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn) January 1, 2025

Internet reacts

As the news of the incident went viral, social media users poked fun at the spectators who went to the venue while criticising the Birmingham council for allowing the people to gather without proper security arrangements.

"You could not have made this made up, lol," said one user, while another added: "Can you imagine hitting midnight and just nothing happening."

A third commented: "I'm sorry but thousands of people being duped by AI into thinking there would be fireworks in Centenary Square, only for them to count down to nothing at midnight is the most Birmingham thing I've ever heard. Absolutely tragic."

This is not the first instance when such a mass-level hoax has led to a public gathering. On Halloween last year, thousands of people gathered at the Dublin city centre for a nonexistent spooky season parade.

A Pakistan-based company issued an apology to Dubliners after a "human error" on its events website led to the gathering.