Barack Obama

Did former President Barack Obama receive more votes in 2008 than Joe Biden has gotten this election cycle? No, that's not true: Ballots are still being counted in this election cycle, but Biden has already surpassed Obama's 2008 vote total. Biden has received about 2.5 million more votes than Obama did in 2008. The claim appeared in a Facebook post…

Is a super-secret super-computer stealing votes for Joe Biden in eight states via a state contractor called VR Systems? No, that's not true: The claimed point of theft -- VR Systems -- says it isn't involved in vote-recording or vote-counting and doesn't even do business in most of the states where conspiracy theorists say "The Hammer" super-computer is purported to…

Are Democrats colluding with the CIA to alter votings machines in key swing states to help Joe Biden? No, there is no evidence to support this. The source of the claim is a retired U.S. Air Force general, whose description as a "high-level intelligence official," is misleading. Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney was banned from appearances on FOX News in 2018…

Did "The Simpsons" animated TV sitcom predict Donald Trump's 2016 victory 15 years before he even announced his candidacy? Did the show also foretell the full electoral map of the 2016 election results? No, that's not true: The cartoon images in this meme do not match the story or date attached to them. The cartoon image of Donald Trump was…

Is this a real photo of Barack Obama kissing the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron? No, that's not true: It is a doctored photo created by pasting together two separate photos of Cameron and Obama kissing their wives. The claim appeared in a Facebook meme (archived here) where it was published on April 1, 2013 with…

Abbie Richards, a climate science student in the Netherlands, was looking with bewilderment at the state of her home country of the United States. So many conspiracy theories echoing, particularly ahead of the election. Struggling to wrangle all of them for a paper, she made a chart naming some 100 conspiracies dominating the social media world to, she hoped, make…

Was a "new" photograph of Malia Obama's credit card with a white powdery substance in lines found on Hunter Biden's laptop? No, that's not true. A picture circulating showing a "Malia Obama" Visa card near lines of white powder has been on the internet since at least 2019. There is no proof that it was found on a laptop allegedly…

Did someone who couldn't afford health care under Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act get penalized $10,000, which was then used to pay for others' free health care? And is it true that Trump "ended that theft?" This is a mixture of false and true. President Trump and Congress did chip away at the Affordable Care Act (ACA), erasing tax penalties…

Do the three red lines in the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris logo refer to a Chinese campaign involving building socialism? No, that's not true: It's just a coincidence, and one of the designers of the logo said the stripes have a far different meaning. Jonathan Hoefler, who drew the logo, said the lines are a reference to the stripes…

Does Democrat Joe Biden own four homes, each worth millions, while living on annual income of $200,000 or less? No, that's not true. The presidential nominee does not own all of the homes shown in posts making the rounds on social media along with suggestions that foreign entities bankrolled the houses. Forbes has estimated his net worth at $9 million,…