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Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has experienced a significant surge over the last few months, attracting numerous renowned figures for vacation retreats. Despite this positive trend, there have been misleading social media assertions falsely suggesting that former US President Barack Obama is presently vacationing in Sri Lanka. Below is our investigation of it.
Images circulating on social media suggest that former U.S. President Barack Obama is currently in Sri Lanka, drinking fresh coconut near a small shop in a Sri Lankan street.
Users commented on it like below.
We decided to do a fact-check on this.
Multiple reliable sources confirm that Barack Obama has not visited Sri Lanka. No media reports or credible sources indicate his current presence in the country.
A reverse image search confirmed that the images were edited by the Indonesian photo manipulator Agan Harahap. Below is the edited image published by Harahap on August 20, 2021, which drew much attention on Instagram.
Harahap is known for manipulating photos of famous figures, placing them near local shops in Indonesia, and then donating the edited images to the owners of shops.
Harahap had done and presented to local shops, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The original images of Barack Obama tasting fresh coconut were taken during his historic visit to Laos in 2016. At that time, Obama was the U.S. President.
The photos captured him at a street market in Luang Prabang, Laos, where he greeted residents and sampled local refreshments, including fresh coconut.
The claim that Barack Obama was recently seen in Sri Lanka, specifically drinking fresh coconut near a small Sri Lankan shop, is false. The images in circulation are the result of photo manipulation by Agan Harahap, an Indonesian creator and the original photos were taken during Obama’s visit to Laos in 2016.
