FACT CHECK: Did Time Magazine name China’s Xi Jinping as Person of the Year alongside Joe Biden and Kamala Harris?

Brad Sylvester, DCNF

An image shared on Facebook claims Time Magazine named Chinese President Xi Jinping as “Person of the Year” alongside President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Verdict: False

The image has been doctored to include Xi. Time Magazine only named Biden and Harris as the outlet’s 2020 “Person of the Year.”

Fact Check:

Time Magazine annually selects its “Person of the Year,” the criterion for which the magazine states is being “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.” One image shared on Facebook claims that the magazine selected Xi alongside Biden and Harris for the title this year.

The image shows the alleged cover of the “Person of the Year” edition of the magazine, featuring the side profiles of the three politicians and text that reads, “Xi Jinping, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – Changing America’s Story.” The entire image is surrounded by Time Magazine’s signature red border. The Facebook post’s caption reads, “Time’s Persons of the Year, we’re screwed.”

Time Magazine announced on Twitter last week that Biden and Harris had been named its 2020 “Person of the Year.” Only Biden and Harris appear on the magazine’s real cover.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year #TIMEPOY https://t.co/o97QNlSBrl pic.twitter.com/KuoBoebBN4

— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2020

Xi’s picture and name seems to have been simply photoshopped into the altered cover being shared on Facebook. Unlike Biden and Harris, Jinping’s side profile lacks a neck and shoulders, and he appears to be awkwardly placed between the pair.

Kristin Matzen, communications director for Time Magazine, confirmed in an email to the Daily Caller News Foundation that the cover featuring Xi “is not authentic.”

Check Your Fact has previously debunked viral claims about Time Magazine covers. In November, social media users shared a fake Time Magazine cover calling former President Barack Obama “the kingpin of the biggest political scandal in modern history.”

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