Fact Check: Video of Joe Biden Wearing 'Mask'

President Joe Biden has faced many odd and wild conspiracy theories throughout his term in office, from being deep faked in White House videos to the person in the Oval Office is his (non-existent) twin brother.

On his recent trip to Ireland, it was claimed that he traveled with a young boy on Air Force One when, in fact and rather cruelly, it was his granddaughter.

Another claim to have emerged from his trip was that signs of the president wearing "a mask" could be seen as he took a moment to scratch the back of his neck.

The Claim

A tweet by Stew Peters, posted on April 25, 2023, viewed 3.6 million times, shows a clip of Biden with the message: "What the hell is this?"

The clip shows Joe Biden speaking to a crowd. While he does, he scratches the back of his neck, leaving what looks like an indentation. A person filming in the back of the video can be heard saying: "Oh my gosh, that's a mask! Holy cow!"

The Facts

The video was shared on the conspiratorial Telegram channel HATS, posted on April 23, 2023, with the question "What do you think? Biden mask?"

There is no evidence that Biden is wearing a mask, and neither the tweet nor the Telegram post attempt to make any serious claim to that effect. However, as Peters and HATS share conspiratorial content, it is not unmerited to believe this is a sincere attempt to convince their audiences of that claim.

While the clip appears to show the skin along Biden's neck impress after he scratches it, the clip does not present other information showing why that happened.

The video was taken when Biden's was in Ireland and held a meet-and-greet with U.S. Embassy staff at Dublin Airport.

Longer and higher-quality video footage on C-SPAN shows that the president was wearing a shirt that added a degree of pressure around his neck. There are several moments during the video where you can see the pressure built up around the shirt collar.

As a result, as his neck turns, wrinkles appear more prominently along his shirt collar. The effect is not commonly seen, as most presidential addresses are made toward the crowd, not away from it.

Moreover, the video quality in the clip shared on Twitter is reduced, the length of the clip is edited and the contrast is increased, which makes it both harder to discern the context and develop the impression of darker tones. The original video shows a more natural skin tone and appearance, and the effect is somewhat less stark.

In any case, this clip does not show, nor is there any evidence, that Biden is wearing a mask. Although there's a possibility the clip might have been intended as a jab, the audiences it was shared with indicate a degree of sincerity.

The Ruling

Misleading Material

This poor quality and heavily contrasted video was taken from Biden's recent trip to Ireland. The effect described in the video is the result of his shirt collar pressing into the side of his neck, which cannot be seen in the clip shared online.

The video shared online emphasizes the effect, whereas higher-quality footage (with more natural skin tone and appearance) deemphasizes it.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team