No, Barack Obama has not taken up a private job as claimed on social media - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
13th September 2018 / 9:41 pm / Last updated: 13th September 2018
“अमेरिका के पूर्व राष्टपति बराक ओबामा अब एक प्राइवेट नौकरी कर रहे है और भारत में तो सरपंच की भी पांच पीढ़ी घर बैठकर खाती है” (Former American President Barack Obama is now doing a private job and in India, five generations of even a village head will sit and enjoy the benefits -translated) A Facebook page, Being Hindu has shared the aforementioned claim inscribed below an image, where Barack Obama can be seen working on his computer. It had accumulated more than 14000 shares at the time of writing.
Posted by Being Hindu on Tuesday, 11 September 2018
It was also shared by many individuals on Facebook and Twitter.
Another Facebook page India Dekho which has more than 37 lakh followers posted a similar claim with a different image. The post has garnered more than 44000 shares.
काश ! भारत के नेता कुछ सीखते इनसे 🙏
*सांकेतिक तस्वीर
Posted by IndiaDekho on Tuesday, 11 September 2018
Doval Fan Club, a Facebook page has also shared the same claim. It has been shared more than 3000 times.
Posted by Doval Fan Club on Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Alt News reverse searched the image shared by Being Hindu on Google and found an old tweet from the official handle of Barack Obama which had the same image. On August 30, 2012, he had tweeted, “President Obama is answering your questions in a #Reddit AMA, starting right now:
President Obama is answering your questions in a #Reddit AMA, starting right now: http://t.co/f00rEdkn, pic.twitter.com/Q5gWHTTM
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 29, 2012
A photograph shared by India Dekho was unrelated to the claims made by the page. This image was clicked by photographer Matthew Healey for Getty Images on August 13, 2013. Obama and his family were on an eight day vacation at Martha’s Vineyard on Massachusetts island during his presidential years. The caption states that Obama was placing an order at a restaurant.
While the third image posted by Doval Fan Club was Obama serving Thanksgiving dinner to residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, DC. It was clicked by Shawn Thew, a photographer for Associated Press on November 23, 2016. The caption reads, “United States President Barack Obama, with First Lady Michelle Obama, shakes hands while serving Thanksgiving dinner to residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, DC, USA, 23 November 2016.”
From vacations to speeches to international travel, Barack Obama’s life is under constant media scrutiny even after the end of his presidential term. In such a scenario, Obama pursuing a private job would have been reported widely. However, we found no media reports that would suggest that Obama had taken up a private job. According to media, in terms of professional engagements, the Obamas have inked a book deal and an agreement with Netflix.
Michelle and Barack Obama have signed a deal with Netflix to produce a set of films and series. An article published by Reuters on May 21, 2018 stated, “The Obamas will have hands-on involvement in producing content and will appear personally in some of the shows while curating others, said a person familiar with the deal.”
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features.
— Netflix US (@netflix) May 21, 2018
Michelle and Barack Obama have also inked a multimillion dollar book deal reportedly with Penguin Random House which is pegged anywhere from from $30 million to $65 million for two books.
According to report published by CNN Money, Obama’s pension payment will be $207,800, about half of his presidential salary.
Facebook pages like India Dekho and Being Hindu have often been found to make such misleading claims which helps them garner followers and circulation for their posts.
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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