Disinformation About Kamala Harris’ Support Event in Detroit

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On August 12-13, false information was circulated on Facebook by a frequent spreader of disinformation, lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili, and Russian-language accounts (1;2), claiming that the team of U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris and the media used Photoshop to alter photos in order to make it appear as though more supporters attended an election event in Detroit. The authors of the claim argue that this is proven by the fact that the airplane’s surface does not reflect the images of the people.

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The claim that the photos of Kamala Harris’ supporters were Photoshopped to increase the number of attendees is false. The event was covered by multiple media outlets, and numerous photos and videos from reliable sources confirm that thousands of people were present at the event.

On August 7, as part of her election campaign, the presidential candidate visited Detroit and addressed her supporters. The photo circulating on social media was taken on that day. The fact that thousands of people greeted Harris in Detroit on August 7 was widely reported by the media, and many photos and videos were published. Specifically, the photos of the crowd at the airplane were published by Reuters, BBC, and AP, with the images taken by their journalists.

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Photo taken by an Associated Press photographer
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Photo taken by Reuters
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BBC’s photo

Despite the claims made by Facebook accounts, the photo is authentic—it was not altered using artificial intelligence, and no people were added using Photoshop. The claims have been debunked by outlets and fact-checking organizations such as Associated Press; Politifact; Reuters and BBC.  Their investigations confirmed that the photo is genuine, which was also confirmed by the presidential candidate’s office.

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For additional proof, Politifact contacted Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert, who used computer programs to conclude that the photo is 100% real and shows only minimal editing to adjust color sharpness.

It is worth noting that the sitting Vice President was accused of photo manipulation by her competitor, Donald Trump. This information was first shared on social media by one of his supporters, who focused on the airplane’s surface reflection, after which Trump shared the post. This led to the widespread dissemination of the disinformation.

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“Myth Detector” has previously fact-checked a number of manipulative posts and disinformation concerning Kamala Harris.


The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.

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11Topic: Politics
Violation: Disinformation
Country: USA
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