Given the war in Gaza, the post was not “appropriate”, said Ahmed Al-Rawi, an associate professor of news, social media and public communication at Simon Fraser University in Canada.

    “But I don’t think Biden is thinking of the global audience here,” he said. “He is mostly thinking about his US audience.”

    What is the Dark Brandon meme?

    The alt text, or image description on Biden’s post, simply says, “dark brandon”. This is a reference to a meme that dates back to October 2021.

    A crowd was chanting obscenities about Joe Biden during a race at the Talladega Superspeedway race track in Alabama. While interviewing race winner Brandon Brown, NBC’s sport reporter Kelli Stavast interpreted the chants to be, “Let’s Go Brandon”, and reported them as such on live television.

    Since then, the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” became code for verbal abuse at Biden, lending Republican politicians new language to use against Biden online, circumventing censorship and avoiding criticism. The phrase also started showing up as song lyrics.

    The Brandon meme has since evolved and different renditions of Biden’s image with laser beams shooting out of his eyes – dubbed “Dark Brandon” – started making the rounds on the internet.

    Cutouts of the Dark Brandon meme even made an appearance at the venue for the third Republican presidential primary debate in November 2023.

    Has Biden made similar posts in the past?

    Regardless of origin, the meme that was intended to mock and criticise Biden has repeatedly been co-opted by Democrats and Biden himself. His tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the Brandon phrase began as early as 2021 and has continued.

    In April 2023, Biden put on dark sunshades after making a joke about becoming the “Dark Brandon” persona during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, DC.

    Biden’s campaign made its first post on Truth Social, presidential race rival Donald Trump’s conservative social media network in October 2023. With the Dark Brandon profile picture, the verified @BidenHQ account posted, “Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!”

    This appropriation of memes is part of an ongoing political war, said Al-Rawi, who has researched and written about the politics of memes.

    “The meme in itself is a political communication tool,” he told Al Jazeera. “It is being weaponised by different parties in order to attract attention and distract from other issues.”

    Al-Rawi believes the Brandon meme has worked in Biden’s favour from the perspective of his supporters, who like the fact that he is taking on a political attack. On the other hand, Al-Rawi said, it could come across as insensitive in parts of the Global South.

    Al-Rawi also attributed Biden’s efforts to “meme-ify” political messaging to attempts to connect with younger voters. Biden’s ability to govern has come under scrutiny due to his age and issues with his memory.

    How has social media changed the way world leaders communicate and are viewed?

    Biden is not the only politician who has used memes to relay political messaging. Social media teams and followers of politicians including former US President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have banked on memes and internet trends to further political messages.

    World leaders used to communicate through press releases and statements aired on television, but the advent of social media has shifted how they communicate with the public, Al-Rawi said.

    Memes are one such way.