Image of Trump surrounded by Black women is fabricated
- Published on August 8, 2024 at 21:05
- 3 min read
- By AFP USA
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"They are afraid of black women supporting Trump because when we do, we drop the hoodrat act, and the left hates classy women!" says an August 3, 2024 X post from Sharika Soal, a podcast host and content creator for the Gateway Pundit, a website AFP has fact-checked multiple times.
The same image also circulated on Facebook, accumulating hundreds of interactions.
Some social media users noted flaws in the image that indicate it is AI-generated.
For example, Trump appears to have a long mane of dark hair growing from the back of his head, and he and several women in the picture have deformed or extra fingers. One has a stray hand on her back, and the women's faces seem nearly identical.
However, other X users appeared to believe the picture was authentic.
Soal confirmed to AFP the image was created using AI in an effort to back the former US president.
"Yes, it is an illustration of the written tweet," she said in an August 7 email. "Classy modestly dressed black women supporting Donald Trump. I have posted several AI images of Hulk Hogan and 1950s style fashion to illustrate tweets. This isn't something I've never done before or out of character for my content to focus on Black women and conservative policy."
A forensics tool created by GetReal Labs also found the image was fabricated.
"Our models, trained to detect tell-tale patterns in AI-generated images, flags this image as AI," said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley and co-founder of GetReal (archived here), in an August 8 email.
"In addition, you can see the tell-tale signs of misformed hands, with an extra finger on the woman to Trump’s right and mangled hands on his shoulders. The buttons and pocket on Trump’s jacket are also misshapen."
The AI-generated image is the latest in a series showing Trump with African Americans -- a group the Republican nominee has courted support from.
A June 2021 report from the Pew Research Center found just eight percent of Black voters supported Trump in the 2020 election (archived here), a trend that appeared to be shifting before President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in July 2024.
More of AFP's coverage of misinformation about US politics is available here.
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