Facebook memes are never a reliable source, no matter if that right-wing or left-wing Facebook page claims to only tell the truth. Chances are these memes contain cherry-picked quotes, misleading statistics and anything else to deceive. It’s 2021, we should all know how to get reliable sources by now.

I recently saw a meme going around quoting Joe Biden regarding a statement he made addressing voter fraud. The meme stated something along the lines of, “BIDEN ADMITS TO ORGANIZING VOTER FRAUD AND GETS AWAY WITH IT, WAKE UP AMERICA” followed by a quote.

Biden’s quoted statement is, “We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.” While this quote is real, it is cherry picked and lacks context from a podcast interview Biden participated in.

The quote comes from “Pod Save America,” a podcast interview hosted on Oct. 24 by Dan Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer asked Biden for his response regarding citizens who had not yet voted nor do they plan to vote, and his response is where this quote comes from. Biden answers the question in multiple parts; firstly mentioning potential voters can make a plan to vote and proceeds to address resources available if citizens are having issues voting, where this quote comes from.

In short, this quote was taken out of context to deceive unknowing Facebook users trying to get involved in politics without doing proper research. Biden’s “voting fraud organization” is actually a system set in place to prevent voter fraud, not the other way around.

Thankfully this post was taken down, however, it was shared many times from one user before being removed for being misleading. It is unsure how many right-leaning or anti-Biden pages have reposted this meme individually.

Memes painting politicians in bad light happens daily on the internet, and will target any and all politicians in the public eye. These memes may also target celebrities, businesses, organizations and other entities.

A Facebook meme shared by the page Proud Republican USA shows an image of boards being put in the windows of Detroit’s ballot counting center, with the caption “Poll workers board up windows at Detroit’s TCF Center so observers can’t see ballots being counted.”

This is another case of a page being misleading regarding the election process, as the post implies the workers are hiding illegal activity. This led to comments such as, “The only way Dems could steal [the] election!”

Detroit Free Press reports the real reasoning for boarding up the windows is due to challengers being aggressive towards ballot counters and appearing intimidating, which also included members of the crowd attempting to photograph or record the counting process. Security addressed the issue by boarding up the windows.

Please inform your grandma, grandpa, uncle, aunt and whoever else to fact check these memes before believing them and sharing them. We all most likely have one family member who believes in these with their heart and soul. There are many reliable sources to confirm these quotes and events in these memes.

Reliable fact-checking sources include FactCheck.org, politifact.com and snopes.com. Facebook has recently installed a feature that notifies the user of “potentially misleading information” if a meme gets enough attention, and this feature also provides a source to explain why the meme may be misleading or incorrect.

The public relying on Facebook memes as their main source of information for world news is harmful to both the general population and to journalism itself. Sharing of these misleading posts creates distrust for news outlets and distrust in the government, and while nobody can officially stop these memes from being created, we can all discourage the sharing and the trust put in these memes.