False: no evidence President Biden is dead

Posts on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) claim that US President Joe Biden has died. But there is no evidence to support any such claims. 

The theories appear to have emerged as a result of Mr Biden testing positive for Covid-19 on 17 July and remaining in self-isolation since that date. The diagnosis came as Mr Biden was facing increasing pressure to exit the presidential race amid growing concerns about his health. 

On 21 July, Mr Biden published a letter on his X account stating that he would not be seeking reelection as president. Some online suggested the letter was not genuine and the lack of accompanying photographs or video fueled speculation that the president may have become seriously ill. 

The following day, the White House published an official statement from the president’s doctor saying Mr Biden’s Covid symptoms had “almost completely resolved” and that “the President continues to perform all his presidential duties”. 

When Full Fact contacted the US Embassy in London to ask about these social media posts, they referred us to the statement issued by his doctor. 

Additional speculation that Mr Biden had died emerged after the flag at the United States Capitol was seen at half mast. However, this was to mark the death of a Member of Congress, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee. The law states that the flag will remain at half mast on the day of the Member of Congress’ death and the following day and may remain lowered until the day of the funeral. 

There has been no statement mentioning the supposed death of President Biden issued by the White House, either on its official pages or social media channels. On 23 July, the White House issued a statement in Mr Biden’s name, commenting on the resignation of the director of the Secret Service following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. 

In the event of the death of a president in office the US constitution states that the Vice President should become President. We’ve seen no evidence of this occurring either.

During unfolding global events it’s essential to consider whether what you see online is accurate, so you can avoid sharing misleading information. 

We have written a number of guides, including on how to spot misleading images and videos, and created a toolkit to help identify misinformation which can help you do this.