Claim: The Burj Khalifa lit up with Sri Lanka’s national flag for the country’s 77th Independence Day.
Fact: This claim is false. The image is from April 25, 2019, when the Burj Khalifa was lit up in the colours of the national flag of Sri Lanka in tribute to those who lost their lives in the Easter Sunday attacks.
Sri Lanka’s 77th Independence Day was celebrated on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. The official I-Day ceremony took place at Independence Square in Colombo, led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Independence Day celebrations were also held across Sri Lanka and at Sri Lankan embassies, high commissions, and consulates abroad. People shared their thoughts and photos related to the national celebrations on their social media accounts.
In this context, a TikTok account named “burjkhalifa.ae” posted two videos showing the tallest building in the world being lit up in the colours of Sri Lanka’s national flag, to mark Sri Lanka’s 77th Independence Day. Both videos were captioned, “Happy 77th Independence Day to Sri Lanka celebration. Independence Day video… Sri Lanka flag on Burj Khalifa.” One of the videos was posted along with Sri Lanka’s national anthem. Both videos received thousands of views and were widely shared.
Fact Check/Verification
To verify whether the Burj Khalifa did indeed light up with the national flag of Sri Lanka, we checked the official website and social media pages of the Burj Khalifa for any posts. However, no relevant posts were found.
We then conducted a keyword search using terms like “Independence Day,” “Sri Lankan flag,” and “Burj Khalifa.” This led us to a 2020 instance where Sri Lanka’s national flag was lit up on the Burj Khalifa for Independence Day. This event was reported on the official website of the Sri Lankan Embassy in the UAE.
Additionally, a video of the display was posted on the official Instagram page of the Burj Khalifa.
However, in the 2020 display, the Sri Lanka flag was shown in a horizontal alignment, which differs from the current viral image where the flag is aligned vertically.
With further research, including a reverse image search on the key frames, we confirmed that the Burj Khalifa lit up with the Sri Lankan national flag vertically on April 25, 2019, in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Easter Sunday bombings.
We have also observed that the same image has been repeatedly circulated every year since 2020, in connection with Sri Lanka’s Independence Day celebrations as well as the Asia Cup in 2022, when Sri Lanka won the tournament for the sixth time.
Conclusion
The claim that the Burj Khalifa was lit up with Sri Lanka’s national flag for the country’s 77th Independence Day is false. The viral image dates back to April 25, 2019, when the national flag of Sri Lanka was lit up on the Burj Khalifa in tribute to the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks. Since then, the same image has been repeatedly circulated every year after 2020, often shared in connection with Sri Lanka’s Independence Day and the Asia Cup 2022.
Result: False
Our Sources
News report on Onlanka.com, dated April 26, 2019
News report on Dubaieye, dated April 26, 2019
News report on The Indian Express, dated April 26, 2019
Post from the official Instagram page of Burj Khalifa, dated February 4, 2020
Post from the official Twitter page of Burj Khalifa, dated April 25, 2019
Event report on the official website of the Sri Lankan Embassy in the UAE, dated February 10, 2020
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, email us at [email protected]. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill out the form.
