Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

$
Facebook posts
Facebook posts
stated on October 20, 2020 in an image:

The “3 red stripes” in Joe Biden’s campaign logo refer to a Chinese socialist slogan.

Pants on Fire!
By Daniel Funke
October 22, 2020

The Biden campaign logo does not pay homage to a Chinese socialist slogan

If your time is short

  • "Three red banners" has nothing to do with the Biden campaign. The phrase is a socialist slogan that was used in China during the late 1950s.

  • The Biden campaign logo was inspired by red stripes on the American flag.

See the sources for this fact-check

For months, President Donald Trump and his allies have falsely accused Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of being a socialist. They’ve also attacked Biden for his son’s ties to China.

Some Facebook users say they can prove Biden’s affinity for China — look no further than his campaign logo, they say.

“Ever wonder why the E in the Biden poster is 3 red stripes. It has a meaning,” says an Oct. 20 post. “Click the Wikipedia link below to see. Coincidence? I don’t think so!”

The 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.) We found hundreds of similar posts using CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool — several of which point back to an Oct. 20 post on Gab, a right-wing social media platform.

We took the bait and researched “three red banners.” It has nothing to do with the Biden campaign.

The phrase is an ideological slogan that was used in China during the late 1950s. The “three red banners” referred to three aspects of Chinese socialism: the Great Leap Forward, the General Line and the People’s Commune.

“The purpose of the slogan ‘Three Red Banners’ was to help make China a strong and prosperous country in the shortest possible period by building ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics,’ that is, by avoiding certain limitations built into other nations’ experiments with communist/socialist models,” wrote X.L. Woo in “Two Republics in China: How Imperial China Became the PRC.”

Facebook users say the three red stripes that make up the “E” in Biden’s name in his campaign logo refer to this decades-old Chinese socialist slogan, which Woo wrote “ended in failure.” Biden’s campaign says otherwise.

“The three red lines were inspired by the American flag, the red stripes on the American flag,” a Biden campaign spokesperson told PolitiFact.

The rest of the Biden campaign’s logo is blue and white, alluding to the other colors of the flag. We could find no other evidence that the three red stripes are intended to pay homage to China.

The post makes an inaccurate and ridiculous claim. We rate it Pants on Fire!

Our Sources

CrowdTangle, accessed Oct. 21, 2020

Encyclopedia Britannica, China, accessed Oct. 21, 2020

Facebook post, Oct. 20, 2020

Interview with a Biden campaign spokesperson, Oct. 21, 2020

PolitiFact, "Fact-checking claims about Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, and China," Oct. 19, 2020

PolitiFact, "Trump’s false claim that Biden is a socialist," Oct. 15, 2020

"Two Republics in China: How Imperial China Became the PRC," X.L. Woo, Aug. 1, 2014

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Daniel Funke
Facebook posts
stated on February 13, 2021 a text post
Donald Trump's second impeachment "cost $33 million."
False

Trump impeachment defense lawyer wrongly singles out antifa in Capitol riot

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on January 7, 2026 a press briefing

stated on January 14, 2026 a statement

Social Media
stated on February 14, 2026 social media posts



stated on January 20, 2026 an op-ed


Donald Trump
stated on February 3, 2026 remarks in the Oval Office


Social Media
stated on February 8, 2026 social media posts





Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on stated on November 17, 2025 in remarks at George Washington University:

Donald Trump
stated on February 2, 2026 an interview with Dan Bongino