Add it to the list of what separates you and me from a major world leader like Nicolas Sarkozy: his casual social media musings get fact checked by all the world. The French president's official Facebook page has turned into a lively playground of doubt after Sarkozy (or someone with the authority to post to his Facebook account on his behalf) posted his fond memories of a spontaneous trip to Berlin on November 9, 1989. The post included a photo of the then 34 year-old Sarkozy chipping away at the wall then bisecting the city of Berlin. "Arrivés à Berlin ouest, nous filons vers la porte de Brandebourg," posted Sarkozy, "où une foule enthousiaste s’est déjà amassée à l’annonce de l’ouverture probable du mur."

Hang on un minute, said a number of Sarkozy's Facebook followers. The accuracy of his recollection of that trip raised questions because (a) the actual fall of the Berlin Wall was pretty unexpected, often traced to an East Berlin spokesperson who got up on a stage and started freelancing about a new policy travel between east and west, and (b) there were public records kept on the travels of Sarkozy, who was already a well-known politician at the time. Sarkozy was at the wall, no doubt, and helped in some small way to bring in down. But was he there on November 9th? Some aren't so sure. And the French president doesn't have the luxury the rest of us perhaps do to fudge a bit online. The Guardian has the story.

Sarkozy's Berlin post has attracted some 1,300 comments, some of them convinced that the extremely self-aware French president is misremembering in a way designed to set himself in the center of history. That said, perhaps Sarkozy can take small comfort in the fact that "3,661 like this" post.