Photo of Harris rally falsely claimed to show fabricated crowd

Published on August 19, 2024 at 17:55
8 min read
By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

Social media users are accusing Kamala Harris's presidential campaign of using artificial intelligence to fabricate a photo of a crowd at a rally in the US state of Pennsylvania. This is false; numerous other pictures show a packed Philadelphia arena with some of the same audience members, and a digital forensics expert told AFP the image -- taken by a spectator -- bears no trace of AI generation.

"Kamala Harris is so unpopular that they have to use AI to fake crowd sizes on TV for her rallies," says an August 9, 2024 X post from an account that has previously spread disinformation.

Screenshot from X taken August 16, 2024

The post shares a video in which a TikTok user zooms in on the image and then uploads it to aiimagedetector.org, which assessed it was likely AI-generated.

Similar posts spread widely across X and other platforms, such as Instagram and Rumble, after Harris's August 6 rally in Philadelphia. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump baselessly claimed a Harris campaign photo from a separate rally in Michigan was also generated using AI to depict a crowd he insisted "didn't exist."

The image of the Philadelphia event -- during which the Democratic nominee introduced her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz -- is low-resolution. But it is not a product of AI.

Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California-Berkeley, analyzed the photo for AFP using two models designed to detect traces of the technology (archived here).

"Neither model finds evidence of AI generation or manipulation," he said in an August 15 message.

"There are no obvious structural defects in this image that we often see in generative AI. In addition, the multiple shadows on the stage are consistent with the expected multiple light sources you might expect to see on a stage like this."

Online AI detectors are not immune to mistakes. The website cited in many of the posts says in a disclaimer that "no detection method is 100 percent foolproof" and that "the accuracy can vary depending on the complexity and quality of the image" (archived here).

Several news networks carried live footage of Harris's Philadelphia rally. Photos and videos captured by the campaign, attendees and journalists -- including from AFP -- show the scale of the audience.

(AFPTV / Celine GESRET, Celine GESRET, John Falchetto)

A Harris campaign spokesperson directed AFP to a press release indicating the crowd numbered over 14,000 and social media posts refuting Trump's claims of fake rally photos (archived here and here).

The original photo

A combination of reverse image and keyword searches revealed the photo was first posted August 7, the morning after Harris's event, in response to an X post from a QAnon-promoting account claiming C-SPAN's live footage looked "extremely Green screen."

"I was there. There was over 13K, even an overcrowd room was needed to fit people. Stop spreading lies!" the user who shared the image said.

Screenshot from X taken August 16, 2024

Minutes later, the QAnon-promoting account broadcasted the picture to its followers and asked: "Does anyone see what's wrong with this pic of the Kamabla 'Rally' Zoom in."

Screenshot from X taken August 16, 2024

A swarm of X users followed suit, highlighting people in the photo they believed were added using AI, computer-generated imagery or other digital tools.

The person who first posted the photo told AFP in a direct message on X that they were harassed over the image, forcing them to briefly turn their account private, delete hateful comments and block several accounts.

"It's a real picture," they said. "I have no reason to lie about an event or a picture."

The user shared an original copy of the photo with AFP, as well as a screenshot of its metadata showing it was taken using an iPhone at the time and location of Harris's rally.

A photo shared with AFP shows US Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on stage at an August 6, 2024 rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Farid, the digital forensics expert, said the intact metadata "adds even more evidence" that the picture is authentic.

In replies to other X users, the person who took the photo said it was zoomed in from a distant seat inside the stadium. They also posted other pictures from their vantage point.

Many front-row spectators in the photo shared online also appear in images from AFP and other outlets, further discrediting claims of AI manipulation (archived here, here and here).

US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is greeted by supporters after speaking at Temple University's Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 6, 2024 (AFP / Brendan SMIALOWSKI)