Snopes Fact-Check Calls True Biden Story ‘False’ Despite Photos THEY Included in Post — Then Reverses It

Caleb HoweJan 27th, 2024, 6:31 pm
 

Independent urban legend tracking and fact-checking website Snopes took a huge amount of fire on Saturday after marking a true story about President Joe Biden wearing a hard hat backwards “false” — so much heat that eventually they reversed their own ruling and the story is now marked “true” on the site.

At issue was a photo of Joe Biden wearing a hard hat backwards, which went viral on the right leaning side of social media before garnering enough attention to warrant a Snopes check.

The photo, which shows Biden wearing hard hat backwards, was included in the Snopes article that first called the story false.

SNOPES FALSE RATING

The first tweet used in the Snopes article was a zoomed in photo of Biden wearing a hard hat backwards.

The close-up was from a photo of Biden wearing a hard backwards that was shared by Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar.

They then also included a tweet which showed the same hat on a construction worker’s head facing the other direction.

Pointing out the bill of the hat, the Snopes article then accused the construction worker of being the one wearing the hard hat wrong, rather than that Biden wore the hardhat backwards as shown in the photos of him wearing it backwards.

“Do construction workers sometimes wear their hard hats backwards? Yes. But to do so, the internal suspension has to be reversed to fit correctly, which explains why, when Biden donned the hat with the brim forward, the nape strap ended up on his forehead,” the original article concluded.

One X user pointed out the logical flaw fairly succinctly. “So the nape strap determines if on correctly??” wrote X user Vapid Surplus. “Thx.”

There were many other reactions.

Eventually, Snopes responded to the feedback by reversing their ruling on the photos of Biden wearing a hard backwards to True.

SNOPES TRUE RATING

The updated article contained an editor’s note, explaining the complete 180.

Editor’s Note: We received a ton of comments in a very short time challenging our assumption that wearing a hard hat “backwards” means wearing it with the brim facing to the rear, and “forwards” means wearing it brim to the front. On the basis of that assumption, we originally rated the claim that Biden was wearing a hard hat backwards as false.

The prevailing counter-argument is that if the suspension of the hat has been purposely configured by its owner such that the bill and tightening knob are worn to the back (as was the case of the hat Biden wore), to wear that hat with the bill facing forward is, practically speaking, to wear it backwards. Therefore, it’s argued, it’s actually true that, in the photo op discussed below, Biden was wearing it backwards. The strap and tightening knob, which should have been behind Biden’s head, were on his forehead.

A corollary to that argument is “Biden looks damn silly in any case.”

We find these arguments sound. Therefore, the claim “President Joe Biden wore a hard hat backwards during a photo op with union construction workers in Superior, Wisconsin” is true, and this fact check has been re-rated as such. Thanks to all who argued on behalf of this correction.

So ultimately, the fact-checkers ruled that the obviously backward hat was backward after all, and that the photo of Biden wearing a hard hat backwards was indeed a photo of Biden wearing a hard hat backwards. But only after some convincing.

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Caleb Howe - Contributing Editor

Caleb Howe is an editor and writer focusing on politics and media. Former managing editor at RedState. Published at USA Today, Blaze, National Review, Daily Wire, American Spectator, AOL News, Asylum, fortune cookies, manifestos, napkins, fridge drawings...