Did Pete Buttigieg stand at the podium at a public town hall meeting with Joe Biden joining by live feed, and announce he's running for President in 2028? No, that's not true: At the time the rumor was posted, no news outlets had carried the story of such an announcement by the former Secretary of Transportation. There were no news reports of an endorsement by former President Joe Biden.
The claim appeared in a Nov. 22, 2025 Facebook post (archived here) where it was published on the PerpetualDrumbeats page under the title "PETE BUTTIGIEG JUST FIRED THE 2028 CANNON:". It continued:
I'M RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT - TO LAUNCH AMERICA TO NEW HEIGHTS LIKE NEVER BEFORE!
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook post at PerpetualDrumbeats account.)
With 3.7 million followers on X and 1.4 million on Facebook, Buttigieg will be in the news if he announces he will again seek the presidency, especially if Biden attended such an event and gave an endorsement.
But, there was no reporting to that effect by any credible news outlet. Lead Stories searched the Google News index of thousands of news sites, finding zero reports (archived here) of such an announcement.
Lead Stories also reviewed Buttigieg's social media accounts. As of November 24, there was no presidential campaign kickoff on his TikTok account, Instagram, X account, nor Facebook.
The post in which the rumor had the emotionalized and oddly detailed characteristics of AI fake news stories. GPTzero, found the text was 100% likely to have been generated by an AI system with no human input:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of analysis result at GPTzero.me.)
PETE BUTTIGIEG JUST FIRED THE 2028 CANNON: "I'M RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT - TO LAUNCH AMERICA TO NEW HEIGHTS LIKE NEVER BEFORE!"
The town hall exploded. History ignited.Pete Buttigieg, 43, gripped the podium amid 2,500 roaring Democrats, flags snapping like victory whips, and unleashed the declaration that just shattered the primary map:"I'm running for president in 2028! Not to patch the past - to propel us to heights America's never touched. Infrastructure soaring. Families thriving. Hope unbreakable. The Biden era built the foundation - now I'll rocket it to the stars!"The crowd detonated. Chants of "Pete! Pete!" drowned the Mississippi. Then - Joe Biden, 82, crashed the stage via live feed, fist-pumping fierce, and boomed:"Pete Buttigieg? My right hand, my future! He's got the vision, the grit, the heart. Full endorsement from me - 1000%! He'll take America to unbelievable heights. Let's make it happen!"Buttigieg froze, then bear-hugged the screen. Instant polls: Pete leaps to 34% in Dem primaries. Fundraising? $78 million in 60 minutes.The reel? 1.5 billion views in 90 minutes. #PeteRunsWithBiden detonated X with 18.9 billion impressions. Fans feral: "Millennial maestro meets Biden blessing - heights incoming!"The Midwest mayor didn't just announce. He got the mentor's crown. 2028? Buttigieg's ascent blasts off now - sky's no limit.
According to the transparency tab, the page that published the claims, Perpetual Drumbeats was managed predominantly from overseas:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of the "Perpetual Drumbeats" page on facebook.com)
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of ad library at facebook.com)
The page's characteristics were consistent with "Viet spam" networks of accounts active in 2025 and spreading false claims about celebrities, often accompanied by AI-generated text and images, with the goal to pursue ad income driven by the number of views.
This type of spam quickly spread on Facebook after the platform's owner, Meta, abruptly ended (archived here) its third-party fact-checking program in 2025 in the U.S. Lead Stories participated, along with other fact-checking newsrooms. By the end of the same year, Lead Stories documented over 50 cases of the most viral false claims that fall under the umbrella of "Viet spam".
