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Grace Abels
By Grace Abels June 21, 2022

Viral image of gas prices is from 2015, not Jan. 6, 2021

If Your Time is short

  • This image is actually from 2015, not 2021.

  • National average gas prices on Jan. 6, 2021, were around $2.25 to $2.32 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

See the sources for this fact-check

For many Americans, Jan. 6, 2021, is seared in memory as the day a crowd of President Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

But an image circulating on Facebook invokes what it claims is a different memory from that day:

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"Never forget January 6th" read the words across an image of a Citgo gas station sign advertising regular gas at $1.99 a gallon. "Oh yeah, Jan. 6, 2021," the caption in the June 17 Facebook post said. "When Americans could still afford to get to work."

(Screenshot from Facebook)
 
But the image doesn’t actually show gasoline prices on Jan. 6, 2021. This photo was originally taken six years prior on Jan. 22, 2015, according to its caption on the Flickr photo sharing service. Federal data show the average national gas price was around $2.04 a gallon at that time. 
 
The Facebook post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
 
Gas prices on Jan. 6, 2021, were averaging $2.25 to $2.32 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 
 
Several factors have contributed to recent rising gas prices, including the increasing cost of oil, sanctions on Russian energy, and COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in supply and demand.
 
This misleading image spread online as news organizations broadcast hearings from the House select committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Prices reached a national average of $5 a gallon on June 13, the last day federal data was reported before this post was made — and the day the House committee held its second public hearing.
 
We rate the claim that this image shows gas prices on Jan. 6, 2021, False.

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Our Sources

Facebook post, June 17, 2022

Tweet, June 15, 2022

Snopes, "'Never forget Jan. 6' Gas price photos date from Obama era," June 16, 2022

U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Weekly U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon)," accessed June 21, 2022

Flickr, accessed June 21, 2022

The Associated Press, "Several factors are converging to push gas prices higher," June 11, 2022

U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol website, accessed June 21, 2022

PolitiFact, "No easy answers on reducing US gas prices, despite political ads' claims," June 15, 2022

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Viral image of gas prices is from 2015, not Jan. 6, 2021

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