An image which shows Malia and Sasha Obama posing for a picture with two people is going viral on social media platforms. The image carried text that said, "Sasha and Malia with their real parents (they aren't Barry and Big Mike's children)."
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
The post was shared over 500 times on the platform, when this report was being written. (You can view archives of similar posts here, here, and here.)
Are these claims true?: No, the viral image has been heavily edited to mislead the viewers. The two people in the image were identified as Anita Blanchard and Martin Nesbitt.
What led us to the truth?: On performing a reverse image search, we found a similar image uploaded on stock website 'Alamy'.
It's caption said, "US President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and daughters Malia and Sasha pose for a family portrait with Bo and Sunny in the Rose Garden of the White House on Easter Sunday April 5, 2015 in Washington, DC."
According to the description, the photo was taken on 5 April 2015.
The image was captured on 5 April 2015.
(Source: Alamy/Screenshot)
Identifying the two people in the viral image: A Google Lens search on the viral image showed us similar older posts, where both the people were identified as 'Anita Blanchard' and 'Martin Nesbitt'.
While Blanchard is a doctor and served as a professor, Nesbitt is the co-founder of private equity firm 'The Vistria Group'. Nesbitt and Blanchard are married.
According to the official website of The Obama Foundation, Nesbitt is a longtime friend of Barack Obama.
Further, we performed a keyword search on Google and found the original image of the couple, which showed them posing with two other people.
The image was captured in September 2015.
(Source: BFA/Screenshot)
Conspiracy theories: It should be noted that there have been several conspiracy theories about Sasha and Malia not being the children of the Obamas. These claims have been debunked by international fact-checking organisations.
Conclusion: An altered image is being shared with a claim that it shows the real parents of Malia and Sasha Obama.
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