On Aug. 27, 2019, Obamawatcher.com published an article positing that former U.S. President Barack Obama called a secret security meeting behind U.S. President Donald Trump's back that was attended by 17 countries from the United Nations:
Obama Calls UN Security Meeting Behind Trump’s Back and 17 Countries Showed Up
Former President Barack Hussein Obama was welcomed at the UN over the weekend for a secret meeting of the Security Council. But that’s not all.
17 countries, many with close ties to our enemies China and France, showed up at the meeting to support what we can only imagine is a plan to take over the US if Trump wins in 2020.
This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated with a website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:
Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical.
It should also be noted that the image at the top of this article, which was also used to illustrated ObamaWatcher.com's piece of fiction, does not show Obama at a secret UN meeting circa 2020. This image actually shows Obama at a UN peacekeeping meeting in 2009. The photograph was taken by official White House photographer Pete Souza, and was originally accompanied by the following caption:
President Barack Obama attends a meeting with heads of state of countries contributing troops to United Nations Peacekeeping at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, N.Y., Sept. 23, 2009. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
While this article was published in August 2019, and while ObamaWatcher.com carries a disclaimer labeling their content as fiction, this satirical story continued to circulate on social media as if it were genuine. In September 2020, for instance, a link to this article posted by a self-described "truth seeker" and "fact researcher" on Twitter racked up more than 6,000 shares:
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.