Fact Check: Claim of US president Joe Biden ‘hugging invisible people’ in viral video is false
The video is clipped and does not show the full context.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 24 Dec 2023 11:24 AM GMT
Screengrab of the viral post. (Source: X/@sirpeeworld)
Hyderabad: A video of US president Joe Biden is going viral on social media with the claim that it shows him shaking hands and hugging invisible people.
“Is the US President suffering from something? After shaking hands with invisible people several times, US President Joe Biden started hugging them,” wrote an X user who shared the video.
(Source: X/@sirpeeworld)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the video is clipped and does not show the full context.
We ran a relevant keyword search on X and found that the video was first posted by a premium user, Sprinter, claiming the same. However, we also noticed community notes added to the post, which clarified that Biden is waving and gesturing to a seated audience, along with the link to an extended version of the video.
The link took us to the video published by The White House YouTube channel on December 20, 2023. ‘President Biden Delivers Remarks at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce,’ read the title.
After watching the video, we found the hall is full of the seated audience on the left, right and centre, and the viral clip shows Biden gesturing to the audience seated on the left and right.
Here is a screengrab from the video showing people seated on the left and right sides of the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce, where Biden delivered his remarks.
We also found the video published by the verified YouTube channel of
titled ‘President Biden delivers remarks at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce — 12/20/23.’ The viral clip appears at 1:4-hour timestamp after Biden finishes his speech.
This proves that US president Biden was gesturing to people seated around him which was not shown in the viral video on purpose to create an impression that Biden was acknowledging ‘invisible people.’
