Trump supporters ‘share AI-generated images’ of ex-president with Black voters

Donald Trump’s supporters have been accused of creating and sharing fake images showing the former president with Black voters.

On the eve of a pivotal week in the 2024 presidential race for Mr Trump, dozens of allegedly manipulated images portraying Black people as supporting him were exposed in an investigation by BBC Panorama.

While there is no evidence the images have been used as part of Mr Trump’s campaign, group Black Voters Matter says they show how supporters are pushing a “strategic narrative” in a bid to encourage African Americans to vote for him.

A creator of one of the images told the BBC: “I’m not claiming it’s accurate.”

The alleged fake images emerged on Sunday night ahead of a week when Mr Trump bids to lock up the Republican nomination on Tuesday when more than a dozen US states hold primary contests. Over the weekend, the ex-president won three more primary contests.

Latest polls suggest he is leading over Biden ahead of the presidential election in November. But his success could come down to the Black vote, which proved key in Biden’s election win in 2020.

In November, Mr Trump labelled himself a greater friend to Black Americans than Abraham Lincoln as he pointed to his record on reducing unemployment. Last week, speaking at the Black Conservative Foundation gala, he said Black voters liked him because of his mugshot and indictments.

“A lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against,” he said. ”And they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against. It’s been pretty amazing.”

But the emergence of the alleged fake pictures could cause damage to his campaign. One picture shows him hugging a group of Black women, while another shows him sat with a group of Black men.

The BBC Panorama programme alleged the images were generated using artificial intelligence, and they were made and shared by US voters.

One of the creators, Mark Kaye, shared an image on Facebook. He told the BBC: “I’m not a photojournalist. I’m not out there taking pictures of what’s really happening. I’m a storyteller.”

He posted an article about black voters supporting Mr Trump alongside the picture.

Mr Kaye told the BBC: “I’m not claiming it is accurate. I’m not saying, ‘Hey, look, Donald Trump was at this party with all of these African American voters. Look how much they love him!

“If anybody’s voting one way or another because of one photo they see on a Facebook page, that’s a problem with that person, not with the post itself.”

Black Voters Matters, which encourages Black people to vote, said the images were allegedly one of a number of attempts to “target disinformation to Black communities”.

Co-founder Cliff Albright said: “There have been documented attempts to target disinformation to Black communities again, especially younger Black voters.”