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No, this photo doesn’t show Biden touching a child inappropriately
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This photo of President Joe Biden is altered.
Social media users are claiming to have photographic evidence of President Joe Biden touching a child inappropriately. But the image is altered.
A May 13 Instagram post shared a photo of Biden kneeling in front of a child and appearing to touch the child inappropriately. Text on the photo reads, "This is what people ‘voted’ for?"
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
A reverse-image search revealed the photo is altered.
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The original photo shows Biden kneeling in front of the child and pointing at the child’s T-shirt, which had an American flag on it. The photo was taken by The Associated Press during Biden’s October 2021 visit to the Capitol Child Development Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
In a video of the interaction, available on C-SPAN, the child is seen walking up to Biden and showing off the tee. Biden kneels down to talk to the child and points at the shirt’s American flag design.
This is not the first time a photo has been deceptively altered to accuse Biden of malfeasance. PolitiFact has previously debunked these claims.
We rate the claim that this photo shows Biden touched a child inappropriately Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Instagram post, May 13, 2023
Reverse image search via Yandex, May 15, 2023
Associated Press images, photo of Biden, Oct. 15, 2021
Alamy, Associated Press photo of Biden, Oct. 15, 2021
C-SPAN, "President Biden Visit to Child Care Center in Hartford, Connecticut," Oct. 15, 2021
PolitiFact, "Fact-checking the pedophilia attacks against Joe Biden," Aug. 12, 2020
PolitiFact, "No, this photo doesn't show Joe Biden engaging in disturbing behavior with a boy," Feb. 17, 2019
PolitiFact, "No, this isn’t a photo of Biden making out with a 15-year-old girl," May 28, 2020
Reuters, "Fact Check - Altered image of Biden with child shared online," Dec. 29, 2022
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More by Sara Swann
No, this photo doesn’t show Biden touching a child inappropriately
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