False claim about Biden-Hasina photo spread through distorted Anandabazar news
The Indian Bengali daily newspaper Anandabazar Patrika did not publish any news titled ‘Sheikh Hasina forcibly took a photo with Biden’.
Recently, a picture and the headline from the front page of Anandabazar Patrika dated September 9 have been circulating on various social media posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). These posts claim that Joe Biden was photographed with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina against his will during the G-20 summit in India. However, Dismislab’s verification process revealed that no such news was ever published in Anandabazar Patrika, and it was found that the social media photo had been manipulated.
A review of the e-paper edition of Anandabazar Patrika for September 9 confirms that instead of the altered news, a different article was published under the title ‘Relationship with China is financial, but India is the bosom buddy, says Hasina’. Furthermore, the original photo attached to this news article depicts Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shaking hands with Joe Biden. Despite an extensive search across all pages of the authentic newspaper, no picture of Biden with Sheikh Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed Putul could be found.
Furthermore, the font used in the fake headline differed from the Bengali font typically used by Anandabazar Patrika. Dismislab’s investigation also failed to locate any such news in the online version of the newspaper.
This false claim also spread on Youtube.
Notably, the G-20 summit, a two-day event, commenced on September 9 in the Indian capital, New Delhi. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her delegation are currently in New Delhi to participate in this summit. During the summit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina exchanged greetings with US President Joe Biden on Saturday. Sheikh Hasina’s daughter, Saima Wazed Putul, was present alongside her.
Subsequently, Saima Wazed Putul shared several pictures of herself with Joe Biden on her Twitter account (X) captioned, “Had a wonderful chat with @POTUS @JoeBiden at the #G20 Summit in #NewDelhi. I spoke to him about the importance of #MentalHealth services as a part of comprehensive #PublicHealth, and school psychologists in the education system.” These pictures also featured Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.
