FACT CHECK: Viral Image Purporting To Show Trump Leading Crowd Is AI Generated
A viral image shared on Facebook purports to show 2024 Republican frontrunner and former President Donald Trump leading a large crowd of people.
Verdict: False
The claim is false. A content detection scan using the website “Hive Moderation” reveals the image has been created with artificial intelligence (AI). A media forensics and AI expert denied the image’s authenticity in an email to Check Your Fact.
Fact Check:
Trump is considering making former campaign manager Paul Manafort an adviser on his 2024 campaign, Reuters reported, citing The Washington Post. Manafort could aid Trump with fundraising, according to the same article from Reuters.
The Facebook image, which has received 13,000 likes, purports to show Trump leading a large crowd of people. “America Stands With Trump,” text above the image reads.
The claim is false. A content detection scan using the website “Hive Moderation” reveals the image has been created with AI. The results of the same scan indicate the image is 91.3% likely to have been created with AI and lists Midjourney as the program used to generate the image.
Screenshot captured via Hive Moderation
Likewise, the image does not appear in any recent credible news reports about Trump. In fact, the opposite is true. Both Politifact and USA Today debunked the image, labeling it as AI-generated via articles published on Mar. 13 and Mar. 15, respectively. According to USA Today, the image was first posted to social media in April 2023, one day before Trump was arraigned in New York for allegedly falsifying business records. Trump’s son, Eric also shared the image on social media, the outlet reported.
In its article, Politifact indicated that the faces and hands of the people who appear behind Trump in the image “are significantly distorted.” Deformed, missing, or extra fingers are one of the tell-tale signs an image has been generated with AI. (RELATED: Post Claims All Georgia Charges Against Donald Trump Were Dismissed)
Additionally, Trump has not publicly commented on the AI-generated image via his TRUTH Social account or his official website.
Dr. Walter Scheirer, a media forensics and AI expert at the University of Notre Dame, denied the image’s authenticity in an email to Check Your Fact.
Check Your Fact has also contacted a Trump spokesperson for comment and will update this piece accordingly if one is received.
