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No, Joe Biden hasn’t stepped down
On Jan. 6, Congress meets to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, in spite of a fake news story spreading on social media that claims Biden is stepping down.
"President-elect Biden steps down as president-elect," reads the headline in a screenshot of "breaking news" story purportedly published by "FOX" on Jan. 1.
The story goes on to say that Biden "resigned as President-elect after consulting with his family & legal team due to an unspecified health issue" and that his advisers and legal team would "make an official announcement" that night.
This 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.)
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Searching for the text in the screenshot we found the post on a website called channel22news.com. But what’s not clear on Facebook is that this is a hoax. On the actual site, there’s also a picture of a clown and the words "You got owned!" and "You’ve been pranked!"
Biden has not stepped down.
We rate this Facebook post Pants on Fire!
This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here, for more.
Our Sources
Facebook post, Jan. 1, 2021
Blog post, President elect Biden steps down as president elect, Jan. 1, 2021
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No, Joe Biden hasn’t stepped down
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