Harris Drew a Crowd in Detroit, But Detractors Spread Bogus Claim to the Contrary

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Quick Take

Vice President Kamala Harris drew a large crowd at a campaign rally near Detroit, according to photos, videos and press reports. But posts circulating online make the baseless claim — amplified by former President Donald Trump — that an image of the event was fabricated or manipulated by artificial intelligence to inflate the crowd size.

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Full Story

Former President Donald Trump has often focused on the size of crowds at various events. In fact, he started his term in office with false claims that inflated the number of people who attended his inauguration.

Now, facing Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election, Trump has amplified false claims diminishing the attendance at Harris’ recent events, which have drawn arena–filling crowds since she took over the top of the Democratic ticket in July.

When Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held a rally at a Detroit Metro Airport hangar on Aug. 7, they drew a crowd of 15,000, according to media reports — one of which attributed the number to Harris’ campaign.

Despite that, social media accounts supportive of the former president quickly began spreading the baseless claim that a photo from the rally was created or manipulated using artificial intelligence to manufacture a crowd. Trump himself amplified the claim, posting on his own platform, Truth Social, “There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!”

The crowd clearly existed, as is shown in the Getty Images photo above, and in multiple photos and videos reporting on the event.

Some of those who claimed that the photo was digitally created or altered — including the self-described “social media strategist” Chuck Callesto, whom Trump cited in his post — pointed to the lack of the crowd’s reflection in Harris’ plane, which parked near the hangar.

But Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in digital forensics, explained in a post on LinkedIn that the crowd wouldn’t be reflected in the belly of the plane, providing a 3D rendering of the location of the plane, crowd and camera. “[E]ven the large ‘crowd’ in my rendering manifests as only a tiny sliver in the reflective surface,” he said.

It’s also worth noting that the crowd wasn’t reflected in the belly of the plane in photos taken of some Trump rallies that have been held at similar venues.

Also, Farid analyzed the photo image with two computer models that can detect patterns associated with AI-generated images. “Both of these models reveal no evidence of AI-generation,” he wrote. “In addition, the text on the signs and plane show none of the usual signs of generative AI,” which can often garble the details in images.

So, the crowd was clearly present at Harris’ Detroit-area rally, and there’s no evidence to suggest that the image shown on social media was created or altered with AI. It was actually taken by a Harris campaign worker.

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Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.

Sources

Robertson, Lori and Robert Farley. “The Facts on Crowd Size.” FactCheck.org. 23 Jan 2017.

Weissert, Will, Bill Barrow and Colleen Long. “At boisterous Georgia rally, Harris dares Trump to ‘say it to my face’ and show up for their debate.” Associated Press. 30 Jul 2024.

Cooper, Kenny. “‘Democrats are in array’: Harris and Walz energize Democratic Pa. voters in first campaign rally.” WHYY. 6 Aug 2024.

Schaeffer, James. “Las Vegas event center ‘reaches capacity’ during Kamala Harris campaign rally.” 8newsnow.com. Updated 11 Aug 2024.

Wisely, John, Todd Spangler and Jenna Prestininzi. “Harris, Walz bring historic campaign to Michigan, rallying at Detroit Metro Airport.” Detroit Free Press. 8 Aug 2024.

MLive.com. “Kamala Harris, Tim Walz rally crowd of 15,000 at Detroit airport.” YouTube. 8 Aug 2024.

Herman, Alice and Lois Beckett. “‘We’re not going back’: thousands rally for Harris and Walz in Wisconsin and Michigan.” The Guardian. 7 Aug 2024.

The Detroit News (@DetroitNews). “For those inquiring about Kamala Harris’ Michigan rally crowd size — here is the view of both inside and outside the hangar at DTW before, during and after the rally.” X. 7 Aug 2024.

C-SPAN. “Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz Campaign in Detroit.” 7 Aug 2024.

Farid, Hany. “I am fielding questions about this image from a Harris/Walz rally.” LinkedIn. 9 Aug 2024.

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