144

There's an image going around Facebook claiming that the @POTUS Twitter account is using an image from President Obama's inauguration.

Screenshot of @POTUS' Twitter page combined with another image with the caption: 'Hmm, where have we seen Trump’s new Twitter background? Oh right, it’s from Obama’s inauguration.'

Is this true? Where is the original image from?

Improve this question
5
  • 3
    No one is claiming that either Trump or his staff used the wrong image. Please be careful when writing questions to be neutral. Now that I edited the question without indicating possible guilt, the question does not seem very controversial anymore.
    – Sklivvz
    Jan 25, 2017 at 0:10
  • So, is it plausible to claim that the image was "accidentally" used, because it was already somehow "sitting around" the POTUS Twitter account, or would it require some degree of intent?
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Jan 25, 2017 at 2:36
  • 1
    @DanielRHicks seeing as the image was probably put up there in preparation of the inauguration, actual images of Trump's inauguration wouldn't have been available yet. In which case it's likely to be changed again soon (if it hasn't already).
    – jwenting
    Jan 25, 2017 at 7:00
  • The handle was passed from the Obama administration to the Trump administration; it's possible that the background is simply an artifact from the previous owner.
    – 8protons
    Jan 25, 2017 at 7:18
  • @8protons - That was my question -- how plausible is it that it was an "artifact" that was unknowingly employed?
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Jan 25, 2017 at 13:12

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
187

It is a photo from Getty Images covering Obama's 2009 inauguration.

enter image description here

Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration at Capitol Building, Washington DC
Credit: carterdayne
[...]
The inauguration of President Barack Obama, January 20th 2009. Unrecognizable crowds in the Washington Mall.

You can note that the weather in the picture is quite sunny but the weather during the 2017 inauguration was overcast.

Obama last used a background of the 50th anniversary march at Selma, captured by archive.org about a minute before the switch. The Obama inauguration photo is the first Trump background captured by archive.org (about a minute after the switch.) (The Selma photo is what Obama used when he started using the POTUS account in 2015, again as captured by archive.org.)

Improve this answer
0

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .