Former U.S. President Obama Holding an Invalid Ballot Altered
A few days after Cambodia’s national election last month, a photo depicting former U.S. President Barack Obama holding an invalid ballot was posted on social media. The photo had been shared more times along with a mixture of comments. After running Google Reverse Image Search, however, it proves the photo was digitally edited.
SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIM
A picture of former U.S. President Barack Obama holding a Cambodian invalid ballot was uploaded on social media in late July.
The picture had been shared many times, commented on, and reacted to by Khmer-speaking social media users after it was circulated on Facebook.
Below is the capture of the picture showing former U.S. President Barack Obama holding a Cambodian invalid ballot. The picture was uploaded on Facebook on July 25, 2023.
The same picture was also uploaded by another social media user leading to a hundred shares and comments from Facebook users.
Below is another capture of the same picture circulated on social media by another Facebook user.
FACT CHECK
Fact Crescendo Cambodia began debunking the photo above by running a Google Reverse Image Search which led us to find the facts below.
By running the Google Reverse Image Search, we found the same photo of the former U.S. President Barack Obama tweeted on Twitter social media platform by the White House Archived, but it does not depict Obama holding a Cambodian invalid ballot as the social media claim.
The photo was tweeted on the social media platform in 2014 on the occasion of President Obama’s birthday that year. The original photo depicts President Obama holding a placard written “#ReachHigher” – an initiative to urge American students to higher education after passing high school.
Reach Higher was initiated by former First Lady Michelle Obama during her time at the White House. The initiative is aimed at inspiring American students to go for higher education at college or university levels after passing high school. See the full details here.
The circulation of the picture of former U.S. President Obama holding an invalid ballot came just two days after Cambodia held its general election.
As Candle Light Party (CLP) – the country’s main opposition party – was not allowed to compete in the election, PM Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) – the country’s ruling party – guaranteed another landslide victory.
CONCLUSION
Fact Crescendo Cambodia found the picture was digitally edited. The original photo depicts former U.S. President Barack Obama holding a placard of an initiative to inspire American students to go higher in education during his time at the White House.
Title:Former U.S. President Obama Holding an Invalid Ballot Altered
Written By: Jay UdomResult: Altered
