Flames from hell? That’s just the Truth-O-Meter burning over claims a photo shows Obama as Satan

Get thee behind me, fake news about former President Barack Obama dressed as Satan.

An old allegation about the 44th president is recirculating on social media. A screenshot of a blog that has previously peddled false and misleading claims shows an image of a man in a silver headdress with a mask and horns and this headline: "Leaked image of Barack Obama dressed as Satan goes viral." 

Text above the screenshot says: "Pictures of Barack Obama dressed up as Baphomet (Lucifer) has been photometrically authenticated." 

An Instagram post sharing this image was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

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stated on October 20, 2024 in a Threads post

Former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social and addressed claims of his “incontinence,” saying, “I don’t poop myself.”

The story is from 2018 and juxtaposes the photo of the person in a headdress with a photo of Obama. "Side by side, the person dressed as Satan looks just like Obama," the caption says. 

Although it claims to have "photometrically authenticated" that the person in the headdress is Obama, the basis of this storyline is speculation.  

Snopes dug into this claim in 2018 and found other photos taken of this person in the headdress.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!