Video of Biden gesturing to Florida crowd misrepresented online

Online accounts critical of Joe Biden claim he tried to shake hands with nobody after a 2024 campaign speech on reproductive rights in Tampa, Florida. This is false; the clip they share is closely cropped, concealing the crowd wrapped around the stage to which the US president was gesturing.

"BREAKING: Biden attempts to shake hands with a 'ghost' after his speech in Tampa, Florida," says an April 23, 2024 post from Leading Report, an X account that AFP has repeatedly fact-checked.

The post includes a short video of Biden stepping away from a podium and gesturing to his right after an April 23 event, in which he hammered former president Donald Trump for his role in restricting abortion access across the country (archived here).

Similar posts across X and other platforms -- including from an anonymous user called "S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y," far-right commentator Ian Miles Cheong and others who have previously spread misinformation -- accuse Biden of attempting to shake hands with a "ghost," "no one," "his imaginary friends" or "thin air."

Sky News Australia also amplified the claim on Facebook.

The posts are the latest to misleadingly portray the 81-year-old Democrat as lost, confused or tired as voters continue to tell pollsters they have concerns about the president's age. AFP previously debunked claims that the president tried to shake hands with "invisible people" after a December 2023 speech in Wisconsin.

The clip spreading online has been similarly misrepresented; Biden was gesturing to audience members who were out of the camera's frame.

Footage from local news stations, as well as photos from The New York Times, Bloomberg and others, show the crowd stretched around both sides of the stage (archived here, here, here, here and here).

Other images and videos show rows of chairs set up to the right of the platform before the event (archived here, here and here).

An AFP photojournalist who was present for Biden's remarks confirmed people were on both sides of the stage, and an AFP video journalist who also covered the event said the group the president appeared to gesture toward on his right included local politicians and others he seemed familiar with.

At one point during his speech, Biden faced that direction and acknowledged US Congresswoman Kathy Castor, who he said met him at the airport (archived here).

Footage shows that after Biden turned to his right following his remarks, he returned to the podium to say thank you, acknowledged the other side of the crowd then exited out the back (archived here).

AFP contacted the White House for comment, but no response was forthcoming.

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about US politics here.