On July 25, Kamala Harris officially announced that she was running for the U.S. presidency from the Democratic Party. As expected, this event increased interest in the candidate and her activities, spreading disinformation about her. 

In August, it was reported that the crowd in the photo of Harris greeting her at the Michigan State Airport in Detroit had been added via AI technology. Read our analysis of this message.

What happened?

On August 10, an account with the nickname Chuck Callesto, which regularly promotes messages aimed at discrediting Kamala Harris (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), published a post (archive) on X with a photo from the airport, claiming that the crowd of people who met Kamala Harris in Detroit was added via AI technology. The absence of people in the reflection on the plane’s surface allegedly indicated deception. In a week, the post received more than 14 million views and 31 thousand shares on the social network.

On August 11, citing this post, former President and current US presidential candidate Donald Trump published a post (archive) on Truth Social accusing Harris of deception and claiming that all the “crowds” at her speeches were fake.

“Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? 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! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane. She’s a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the “crowd” looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake “crowds” at her speeches. This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING – And they’re even worse at the Ballot Box. She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING!” wrote Donald Trump.

Different photos and videos with fake signs were distributed through Telegram channels that systematically spread Russian disinformation, including “Sheikh Tamir” (Шейх Тамир), ”Alex Parker Returns”, Kabinet investora (”Кабинет инвестора”), and others.

The news also spread on other social networks, including TikTok  and Youtube (1, 2).

Analysis

On August 7, Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz arrived in the state of Michigan in the suburbs of Detroit to speak at a campaign rally. Videos of the event were published (1, 2) on the page of the official account of the Harris campaign on X.

In the published videos, the crowd of people who attended the meeting at the airport is not reflected on the plane’s surface. However, regional and international media (1, 2, 3, 4) reported this event with photos taken from different angles and distances. Numerous photos and videos show an identical effect with no reflection of the crowd of people on the surface of the plane. 

In particular, the Detroit Free Press and FOX 2 Detroit posted live broadcasts from the scene on their websites, and the Detroit News published short videos from outside and inside the hangar before, during, and after the rally to show the crowd greeting Harris.

All the photos and videos in the media show many people both near the plane and during the Harris rally. The natural way people looked and moved, changes in the environment, the absence of flickering and other glitches and indicators of video being edited shows that many people did attend the event. So, in this case, it’s the effect of the environment being reflected on a rounded surface, not a fake crowd of people.

Kamala Harris’s campaign also posted a denial about the photo from the airport being fake on X. Their post said this was a real photo, and 15,000 people attended the rally at the Detroit airport.

Moreover, the Associated Press contacted Hany Farid, a University of California, Berkeley professor specializing in digital forensics and disinformation. He analyzed the photo using two GetReal Labs models that detect generative AI patterns and found no signs of tampering. The professor also compared several versions of the photo to the one Trump posted, and the only changes he found were changes in brightness or contrast and possibly sharpening in the image.

So, the information about Kamala Harris using AI to fabricate a fake crowd in Detroit is false. This disinformation was spread as part of a large-scale disinformation campaign and psychological operation aimed at discrediting Harris as a candidate for the US presidency.

Conclusion: Fake.