A viral image has been circulating on social media purporting to show a newsletter from The Atlantic praising President Joe Biden for his “quiet courage” following news that the United States’ economy shrank for the second straight financial quarter.
A Facebook user posted a screenshot on July 30 of what appeared to be the magazine’s website featuring the headline “The Quiet Courage of Biden’s Negative Growth Economy.”
“In an era of unchecked economic prosperity, one man had the moxie to pump the brakes – to save us from ourselves,” read the subheadline as it appeared in the post. The screenshot made it look as if a story was written by someone named Tim Nichols and had appeared in the magazine’s email newsletter, “The Atlantic Daily”.
The post, which was also being shared elsewhere, 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.)
The image is fake.
(Screengrab from Facebook.)
Our ruling
A Facebook post shared a fabricated screenshot meant to look like a real article from The Atlantic praising President Biden following news that the United States economy had shrunk.
A spokesperson for The Atlantic confirmed the image is a fake and said the publication does not employ anyone using the name featured in the screenshot, although a person with a similar name is employed as a contributing writer.
We rate this False.
Truth-o-meter Ruling
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
- The image has been manipulated to show a story from The Atlantic that does not exist.
- The author featured in the fake story also doesn’t exist and uses a similar name to a writer who does work for the magazine.
Statement
Context
a Facebook postSpeaker/Target
Statement Date
Our Sources
The Washington Post, "U.S. economy shrinks again in second quarter, reviving recession fears," July 28, 2022
Facebook post, July 30, 2022
The Atlantic, The Atlantic Daily, accessed Aug. 1, 2022
Twitter, nortouQ post, July 29, 2022
Twitter, Dinesh D'Souza post, July 29, 2022
The Atlantic, "The Quiet Courage of Bob Moses," July 28, 2021
Email with Anna Bross, Aug. 1, 2022
The Atlantic, All Stories by Tom Nichols, accessed Aug. 1, 2022
Translations
Language: en