Social media users shared postings claiming authorities in Washington, DC are conducting ID checks before people are allowed into the city. This statement is false.
Examples of postings that make this claim can be seen here, here and here.
One report reads: “Check IDs to get to Washington DC …….. If we had checked IDs at the ballot box, we would not be in the mess we are in.”
The city took extra security measures after the storm on the Capitol on January 6, especially during the inauguration of President Joe Biden on January 20 (here).
Security forces also guarded the US Capitol on March 4, the day when supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory predicted that former President Donald Trump would return to office (here, here).
But Alaina Gertz, a public affairs specialist at the Metropolitan Police Department, told Reuters in an email that the allegations in the social media posts were false. “There is no identity requirement or a check in the District of Columbia,” Gertz said. “I can not remember ever having this requirement in the city.”
VERDICT
Untrue. Washington, DC, does not do ID checks before people are allowed into the city.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.