With the presidential election days away, disinformation experts warn about an increase in fake images leading to false narratives about key voting communities — particularly Black men.
"We're seeing an increase of artificial intelligence related images that are suggesting that black men endorse Donald Trump, when in fact those images are false," said Alphonso David, President and CEO of Global Black Economic Forum, referring to AI images that show former President Donald Trump with a group of Black men.
"We have to be very, very wary of where those narratives are coming from," David added. "What we're seeing is a lot of misinformation about the political views or the inclinations of Black men to vote."
As images generated by artificial intelligence flood social media feeds, community leaders say even a fake photo can send a message.
"It's not just the fake photos," said Cliff Albright, founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund. "It's fake information. It's fake narratives."
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The narrative that Trump is the preferred candidate among Black men has been spread for over a year as fake images populated social media platforms like X. The false images were shared before President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race.
The narratives contradict polling data. An October poll from the New York Times and Sienna College shows 70% of likely Black male voters say they plan to vote for Harris while 20% say they'll vote for Trump. A recent Howard University poll shows an "overwhelming majority of the black voters" in swing states selected Harris as their preferred candidate.
While Black voter support increased after President Biden's withdrawal and Harris's entrance into the race, Trump has made notable inroads with Black male voters as his appeal to young male voters in general has increased. According to the Times-Sienna poll, in a six-point increase from 2020, about 15% of Black male voters said they plan to vote for the former president this year.
As the presidential race remains neck and neck, and candidates count on every corner of key voting blocs, the Harris campaign and Democratic party have stepped up its outreach to Black male voters.
The Harris campaign — in a bid to better reach this base — recently released an "Opportunity Agenda for Black Men," a platform that includes small business loans, training for "good paying jobs," and legalizing recreational marijuana. The campaign also released on a new ad, narrated by a Black man.
"Let's be honest and get a reality check," the ad's narrator says. "Women know how to make things happen."
Popular Democrats like former President Barack Obama called out the narrative that Black men won't support Harris in her bid for the White House because she is a woman.
"Part of it makes me think that, well you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president," Obama said earlier this month while on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "And you're coming up with other alternatives and reasons for that."
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In a virtual roundtable hosted Sunday by the Win With Black Men PAC, Obama praised Black men for educating and mobilizing voters.
"It's also a testament to the fact there are a lot of brothers that are out there who want to get involved. And if given the opportunity and given a direction, are ready to roll up their sleeves and make things happen," he said.
Harris, meanwhile, took to Black media platforms to speak with and to Black men.
"Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote," the vice president said in an interview on The Shade Room.
Still, community leaders say prevailing narratives about Back men voters and which candidate they prefer range from misleading to false. Disinformation expert Esosa Osa, founder of Onyx Impact, said false narratives claiming Black men won’t vote for a woman seem to be spread intentionally.
“There are folks in some of these Black online spaces who are, who are seeking to divide, who are profiting off the division of the Black community,” she told Scripps News.
Osa said false and divisive narratives are “preying on existing distrust."
“The more doubt and distrust you place in that process, you place in various communities, the less power you that community will have. And the more fear and distrust that that community will have,” she added.
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Albright said those spreading disinformation about Black male voters are employing a “cynical strategy” to sow confusion and discourage Black voter turnout.
“They're not even really trying to win Black voters," he said. "What they are trying to do is to try to get Black voters to stay at home. It's a very cynical strategy. It's a very anti-Black strategy to try to get us to just lean into our grievances, to lean into frustrations."
While many of the photos of Trump with Black men clearly appear to be AI-generated, Albright says the fake images leave a lasting impression.
“There is this notion that Black men are ripe for the taking. That if you send enough information to Black men, enough negative information, maybe enough information around a Black woman shouldn't be able to lead, enough misogyny then you can get a certain segment of Black men to sit on the sidelines,” Albright said.
“Sitting on the sidelines just being upset and not wanting to participate,” he added.
