Social media users are sharing reports claiming that the White House has been empty for at least ten consecutive nights since President Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021, because the lights were turned off at night. With links to the “10 days of darkness” theory associated with the unfounded QAnon conspiracy, this claim is untrue: business has been done in the White House since Biden’s inauguration and the Bidens have moved to the residence. The White House’s lights have been turned off regularly around 11pm since before Biden’s presidency.
“10th consecutive night, no body home …” says one report from 21:29 ET 30 January, showing a photo of the front of the White House, with no lights shining on the building or coming out of the windows not (here). The post was shared more than 1,000 times on Twitter, including on later dates. here , here ). Another message shows an aerial photo of the White House with its lights on, with the caption “White House Dark 10th consecutive night …!” (here). Some posts include a screenshot of an anonymous user on a message board saying, “When the lights go out, know that we’re in control. Do not panic” (here) or the caption “And you – if it is dark, do not worry. We are in control. ”here)
The reference to “10 Days of Darkness” appears to be linked to the widespread QAnon conspiracy, which is based on the idea that former President Trump secretly includes a cabal of child sex predators that includes prominent Democrats, Hollywood elites and ‘ deep state ”allies (here). Supporters of QAnon believe that Biden is not president, that the military is in power and that Trump will return to power to expose the alleged cabal of satan-worshiping pedophile cannibal elite in a ‘great awakening’ after ’10 days of darkness’, a fictitious time when it would appear that the government has closed down, but that the ‘new government’ will in fact take over ( here , here). Reuters has made some similar claims here – a US defense official told Reuters in an email that neither martial law nor the Insurrection Act has been declared.
The photo used in some reports, seen here, spread on the night of May 31, 2020 ( here , here , here ) when the White House’s lights went out during Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd on 25 May. The lights went off, as Forbes reported here and the New York Times. here . But the picture is not really: as at the time, by fact checkers, including Snopes (here), AP (apnews.com/article/8983690810) and Factckeck.org (here), the picture is an edited version of a picture taken in July 2014, seen here on photo site Alamy.
Turning off the White House lights late at night is a regular occurrence that began before the start of the Biden administration. When the White House’s lights went out during Black Lives Matter protests during the Trump administration, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley explained to Newsweek, “This is nothing new. The White House lights go out almost every night at 23:00 ”(here). CNN’s White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins also confirmed on Twitter that the White House’s lights go out around 11pm every night ( here ).
The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for confirmation.
The White House’s lights have been on since Biden’s inauguration, as seen in these photos from Getty Images on February 2 here, Reuters on February 1 here, Shutterstock on January 30 here and January 23 here, AP on Jan 22 here and Reuters on January 20, the night of the inauguration here.
Social media reports claim the White House has been empty for ten days since Biden’s inauguration. This is false: the following days’ Reuters photos prove that Biden, his family and administration have been using the White House since Biden’s inauguration. The Reuters photos can be seen here (January 20), here and here (January 21), here (January 22), here (January 25), here (January 26), here (January 27), here (January 28) and here (January 29).
The Bidens and their dogs moved into the White House, as reported by the Washington Post here, CNN here and here, Fox News here and the BBC here.
VERDICT
Untrue. The Biden administration has been working and living in the White House since Biden’s inauguration. The White House’s lights are switched off regularly at 23:00. almost every night and it has been happening since the reign of Biden.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.