Don’t fall for this promise of a ‘leaked’ recording of Biden and Zelenskyy

President Joe Biden made a surprise trip to Ukraine on Feb. 20 to show support for the country as it tries to fend off a nearly yearlong Russian invasion. He met and spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while he was there. 

But we found no evidence to corroborate a claim that an audio recording was leaked documenting a private conversation between the presidents. A social media post claims otherwise. 

"BREAKING: Journalists on Instagram, @2024Update, just LEAKED an audio recording of Biden and Zelenskyy talking in private," the Feb. 21 Instagram post says. "You won’t believe what was said! FOLLOW  @2024Update to see before it gets censored and deleted!"

This post 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.)

The "2024 Update" Instagram account is private, but we’ve gone down similar rabbit holes before in which one Instagram post promises a juicy leak — but only if you follow another Instagram account. In the end, there’s no such reward. 

In August, for example, we fact-checked a "BREAKING" Instagram post promising "leaked messages" between former President Barack Obama and the judge who signed off on the warrant to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. 

"Instagram account @patriotave is posting leaked messages. Follow @patriotave before they are taken down!!!"

The Instagram account that post referred to was private, but its bio advertised a survivalist shovel available for purchase and suggested following another account, @political source, to have any follow requests accepted faster. That account, also private, referred users to follow @FuriousPatriot, "to be accepted faster," and that account, also private and advertising the shovel, referred users to follow yet another private account "to be accepted faster." 

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dicho el Febrero 24, 2022 en social media posts

A photo of a wounded young child was captured in Ukraine in 2022.

In November, a similarly styled post urged people to follow an Instagram account with a purported leaked audiotape of the 911 call placed by the husband of U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after an intruder broke into their San Francisco home in October. 

We requested to follow the account where the supposed leaked audio of Biden and Zelenskyy was posted but as of publication time, that request hadn’t been granted. 

However, we searched for news reports and other sources to corroborate this latest post’s claim, and found none. 

We rate it False.