Doctored photo falsely purports to show President Biden surrounded by scores of executive orders

Dunya News

Doctored photo falsely purports to show President Biden surrounded by scores of executive orders

(AFP) - A photo purportedly showing US President Joe Biden surrounded by huge piles of executive orders has been shared repeatedly on Facebook and in South Korean online forums. The image, however, has been doctored: the original photo shows Biden sitting in the Oval Office on January 20, 2021 with a much smaller pile of executive orders to be signed.

The image was published on FM Korea, one of the largest online forums in South Korea.

“The latest news from the USA. Biden is working really hard,” the Korean-language caption reads.

“Why doesn’t the US introduce the electronic system for that?” one forum user commented.

Another forum user wrote: “What about an assistant…”

The image was also shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook; on South Korean online forum DC Inside.
The image, however, has been doctored.

A reverse image search on Google found the original photo was published by The New York Times on January 20, 2021, the same day as Biden’s inauguration.

The photo shows a smaller pile of executive orders on his desk.

The original photo is captioned: “President Biden signed executive orders during his first few minutes in the Oval Office on Wednesday.”

According to the Federal Register’s Executive Order Disposition Tables, Biden signed a total of nine executive orders on January 20, 2021.