Is US President Biden invoking conscription to send young recruits to fight in Ukraine? Fact Check

Posted by: Arun Nag March 5, 2023

In the context of escalated Russia-Ukraine war, several posts have emerged after US President Joe Biden’s surprising visit to Kyiv (Kiev) recently. One such claim made by The Patriot Oasis is making rounds on social media with a claim that Biden has called for a national draft of men and women to be sent to Ukraine to fight in the war.

The tweet said, ”BREAKING: Biden calls for a national draft. Men and women are to be selected to fight in Ukraine” and added, “The recommended way forward will be to invoke the Selective Service Act, as is my authority as president.” The post also carried an image of President Biden making an address.

See the claim on Twitter post below:

While the typo on Ukraine was glaring, the purported act of the US seemed unrealistic. Though the US government has been helping Ukraine with military funds and reiterated its resolve to increase the aid package further, sending its own men and women would amount to open participation in the conflict, which demanded a fact check of the claim. The Digiteye India team further checked the other social media platforms and found the same message being shared on Facebook too.

Fact Check

After the Vietnam War, the US ceased military conscription as a means of participating in any war. On January 27, 1973, then-Defense Secretary Melvin Laird announced the decision stating that the Armed Forces “will depend exclusively on volunteer soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.” And it has never been an option for the US since then. However, the reasoning given in the claim was that President Biden would invoke the Selective Service Act.

In the video that is under scrutiny, President Biden says: “The illegal Russian offensive has been swift, callous and brutal. It’s barbaric. Putin’s illegal occupation of Kyiv and the impending Chinese blockade of Taiwan has created a two-front national security crisis that requires more troops than the volunteer military can supply. I have received guidance from General Milly, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, that the recommended way forward will be to invoke the Selective Service Act, as is my authority as president.”

In a frame-wise break up of the video and consequent search on Google Reverse Image search threw up results on the original Youtube video that was uploaded on December 8, 2021, where Biden was speaking about the Build Back Better Act. Here’s the video:

Further search on Youtube revealed that the altered deepfake video was first shared by The Post Millennial, a Canadian online news magazine on February 27, 2023. And at the end, it clearly says that the video was generated by artificial intelligence-aided deepfake. The tweet said, “AI imagines what would happen if Biden declares and activates the Selective Service Act and begins drafting 20 years old to war”.

The original video was created using AI by Jack Posobiec, a far-right American political activist and the Turning Point USA is a conservative American nonprofit. He tweeted the original video on February 27. He had tweaked the original video on YouTube channel of the White House, uploaded on December 8, 2021, where the US president was speaking about the health-related Build Back Better Act.

Hence, the original video was changed with the AI-aided deepfake to showcase technology and not real.

Claim: Biden calls for a national draft. Men and women are to be selected to fight in Ukraine.

Conclusion: False, it’s a deepfake video to show the consequences of technological fallout.

Rating: Misleading —

About Arun Nag

Arun is with Digiteye India since the beginning as the main source for re-writing copies and re-checking the facts and images. He writes on general and tech issues. He can be reached at arunnag@digiteye.in

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