Did President Joe Biden say that World War III against Russia has already begun? No, that's not true: an excerpt taken from an old announcement made by the U.S. President in 2022 has been circulated without proper context, giving a misleading impression to viewers.
The claim originated from a video (archived here) posted on TikTok on April 12, 2023, by the account ssalmili under the title "Biden declares World War III," showing a broadcast by British-Syrian television commentator Faisal-al-Qassem.
It opened:
Do I believe you, or believe the American President, Biden, who said ... 'You Americans, you Westerners, do you believe that sending American and Western tanks, aircrafts and pilots to Ukraine is a game? No, no, no. It's not a game. Don't kid yourselves. ... This is a third World War'... Biden said it in his own words, this is a third World War against Russia," claimed Qassem, the commentator in a live broadcast.
(Translation from Arabic by Lead Stories staff).
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Apr 26 09:30:56 2023 UTC)
In the broadcast shown here, Faisal al-Qassem refers to a popular meme showing two purported remarks from Biden on March, 11, 2022, and January, 25, 2023, one after the other, widely shared on social media to suggest that the presence of American troops and equipment in Ukraine means the beginning of World War III. The first comment, attributed to Biden, was never made by the U.S. President as quoted.
Biden announced on January, 25, 2023 that the United States would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, but never said that this specific decision would start World War III.
A CNBC video of Biden's remarks on March, 11, 2022, at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference shows the president's comments. Here are his actual words according to the White House transcripts - also referred to in the meme - in the context of broader reasoning:
