Fact Check: New $1,400 Stimulus Checks Today? Viral Video Sows Confusion

U.S. stimulus checks, issued by the U.S. government at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, totaled more than $814 billion from 476 million payments between 2020 and 2021.

Although a number of U.S. states have issued other rebates and financial assistance since, Americans have not seen the same federal government payouts for the past three years.

However, a viral TikTok suggested that drought would end this week, claiming payments of $1,400 would begin being issued on Thursday.

The Claim

A TikTok posted on March 7, 2024, viewed 1.7 million times, included the headline "President Biden says $1400 check coming March 14. Stimulus check coming soon 💵💵💵"

The post also included a side-by-side video. The left side showed someone walking toward a mailbox. The right side was a clip from a Joe Biden speech in which he said "If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope and decency and honor for so many people who are struggling right now." A caption on the video said "On this day 3/7/2021."

The Facts

The TikTok confused those who saw it, many of its viewers appearing to believe the central claim was accurate.

User Jake Abaigar wrote "I'll take the stimulus check, but I still vote for Trump"; their comment was liked by viewers more than 1,000 times.

Another user, beckiekeefer, wrote "Stimulus check equals: he wants your vote, and then, once he gets your vote, he'll take care of another country instead of the USA"; their comment received more than 1,700 likes.

Other comments included questions about when the check would arrive and complaints about government spending.

However, there are no $1,400 stimulus checks being issued on Thursday.

Three rounds of stimulus checks were sent out during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic: $1,200 in March 2020, $600 in December 2020, and $1,400 in March 2021.

As mentioned, some states separately issue other rebates and payments. For example, this week Alaska began processing checks from its Permanent Fund Dividend, which will provide residents with around $1,300. The fund has been running for 42 years, paid for from a share of the state's natural resource wealth.

However, there have been no nationwide stimulus payments for around three years, and no other announcements of forthcoming federal checks either.

This Joe Biden speech was filmed in January 2021, urging voters in Georgia to elect Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate in a runoff. In the days before the speech, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had rejected a plan to increase stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000.

Biden argued that voting for Ossoff and Warnock would help end congressional deadlock and guarantee payouts of $2,000. Both were later elected.

The president would go on to sign the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, issuing $1,400 payments to Americans in March 2021. Biden was scrutinized for not providing the full $2,000 he had previously pledged.

Newsweek has examined a series of viral TikToks recently, all of which included unsupported, phony claims surrounding popular news stories, from Michelle Obama announcing a 2024 presidential run to Fani Willis being disqualified from prosecuting Donald Trump over alleged election interference in Georgia.

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that could lead to a national ban of the social media platform, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

The Ruling

False.

There are no new stimulus checks being sent out on Thursday. The claim was made on TikTok without supporting evidence or references.

The last stimulus checks, part of COVID relief measures, were sent three years ago. The speech by Biden included in the TikTok was filmed in January 2021, two months before the final checks were sent out.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team