{"id":668447,"date":"2026-01-02T06:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/668447\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T06:59:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:59:21","slug":"thousands-duped-into-attending-non-existent-new-year-fireworks-in-birmingham-again-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/668447\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands duped into attending non-existent New Year fireworks in Birmingham again | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of people were tricked into attending a non-existent New Year\u2019s Eve<\/a> fireworks for the second year in a row. Crowds gathered in\u00a0Birmingham<\/a>‘s Centenary Square last night after fake adverts were posted online promising “the biggest\u00a0New Year’s\u00a0party in the city”, only for attendees to be left disappointed at midnight when nothing happened.<\/p>\n

Police had warned earlier in the week about the prospect of fake events being advertised, a warning evidently missed by hundreds. AI<\/a>-generated articles and images are believed to be responsible for the fiasco.<\/p>\n

One such advert said: “If you’re spending New Year’s Eve<\/a> in Birmingham, don’t miss the celebrations on Centenary Square which is by far the biggest NYE party in the city.<\/p>\n

“At the event, you’ll find street food vendors, an ice rink and bars to help you celebrate New Year’s Eve 2025.”<\/p>\n

The scene replicated a similar incident a year previously, when police were forced to enter the square to inform revellers that there was no official fireworks display after disgruntled crowds waited for hours for the hoax display.<\/p>\n

Birmingham has not held an official fireworks display since 2014.<\/p>\n

West Midlands Police had warned residents that there were no official events planned in the city centre for yesterday – and said “misinformation” spread online risked hampering emergency services on one of their busiest nights of the year.<\/p>\n

A statement released earlier this week said: “There are no official firework displays or city-organised events happening in Birmingham city centre on New Year \u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n

“Every year, rumours start to spread online about big celebrations in the city. Unfortunately, these false claims often lead to confusion and disappointment.<\/p>\n

“Last year, for example, we were made aware of posts that circulated about a spectacular show in Centenary Square. Many people believed it, travelled into the city centre, and were left frustrated when nothing happened.<\/p>\n

“Every year, rumours start to spread online about big celebrations in the city. Unfortunately, these false claims often lead to confusion and disappointment.<\/p>\n

“Last year, for example, we were made aware of posts that circulated about a spectacular show in Centenary Square. Many people believed it, travelled into the city centre, and were left frustrated when nothing happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of people were tricked into attending a non-existent New Year\u2019s Eve fireworks for the second year in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[55726,1942,855,748,393,203659,4884,194438,37999,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-668447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-ai-generated-misinformation","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-birmingham","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-fake-events","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-hoax","16":"tag-new-years-eve","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115824214882660096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}