No, French President Macron did not snub PM Modi at Paris AI summit

by Oishani Bhattacharya

A 14-second clip from the recently concluded AI Action Summit in Paris, featuring French President Emmanuel Macron with world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has gone viral on social media. The clip is being shared with the claim that Macron ignored Modi when the latter reached out for a handshake.

The summit, hosted by France in Paris and co-chaired by PM Modi, was held between February 6 and 11.

The clip was shared by the Congress Karnataka handle on X (formerly Twitter) on February 11 with the claim that the French President insulted the Indian Prime Minister. (Archive)

Congress worker and former president of Youth Congress, Srinivas BV, also shared the clip with a caption in Hindi, which mockingly said: “ED should take cognizance… did not shake hands with Vishwaguru!” (Archive)

The post garnered 1.5 million views and was reshared more than 4,000 times.

Another verified X user @RoshanKrRaii also shared the clip claiming the Indian Prime Minister “started waving to cover up” after being ignored by Macron’. (Archive)

The post had more than 570,000 views and was reshared over 1,300 times.

Several social media users circulated the short video reiterating that this was a major snub for the Indian leader. Below are a few instances.

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Fact Check

To check the authenticity of this clip, we first looked at the live stream of the summit uploaded by news agency Associated Press on February 11.

At the 8:39-minute mark, PM Modi and President Macron can be seen walking together to the venue where world leaders are seated. As they enter, they greet various dignitaries.

At the 9:48-minute mark, Macron is seen speaking with US Vice President JD Vance, while PM Modi is seated nearby. The viral footage in question has been clipped from the 9:56-minute mark, which social media users claim shows Macron ignoring Modi, who apparently extended his hand towards Macron for a greeting.

After carefully analysing the clip, we found that it’s not exactly clear whether PM Modi extended his hand toward Macron in greeting or gestured whether he should step aside as the French President approached to greet the person seated in the row behind. But in either case, Macron did not ignore Modi at the summit because the two leaders had already greeted each other and taken photographs before entering the venue together. Images from that day shared by PM Modi’s official X handle corroborate this:

Further, at the 11:39-minute mark, after greeting other leaders, Macron even walks over to Modi and sits beside him.

Also, around the 17:13-minute mark of the AP live stream, when Macron invites Modi to the podium to address the leaders as co-chair of the summit, the two shake hands and embrace. An image of this was also shared from Modi’s X handle.

Source: X/ @narendramodi

Additionally, Macron shared a video on X where he warmly welcomes and greets PM Modi after he lands in Paris.

Thus the claim that the French president snubbed or showed disrespect towards the Indian Prime Minister is baseless. An overview of their exchange throughout this summit disproves this. The viral video has been clipped and shows the part after the two leaders had already met and exchanged pleasantries to give the false impression that something was amiss.

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