Was an image of a Kamala Harris campaign rally in Wisconsin digitally altered to boost the crowd? No, that's not true: AI detectors found no sign of any digital manipulation. The August 2024 political rally was genuine and broadcast live by various TV stations, newspapers and networks, including C-SPAN and PBS.
The claim about the rally image appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly Twitter, on August 7, 2024. The photo's caption said:
Kamala WI Crowd...is CGI'd! 😆😆
Happy Wednesday!
http://fotoforensics.com
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Aug 9 15:24:18 2024 UTC)
The post provided no documentation or other independent evidence to support its claim that CGI (computer-generated imagery) had been used to add the crowd to the image or make the gathering appear larger. It also doesn't explain what the purple image underneath the image is supposed to show or prove. Nothing in the post says when the event took place or where in Wisconsin.
Google search
Through a reverse image search with Google Lens (archived here), Lead Stories found that the person with the guitar in the post is Justin Vernon of the indie folk group Bon Iver. The results revealed that the band performed at the Harris rally on August 7, 2024, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. A screenshot of the search results is shown below:
(Source: Google screenshot taken on Fri Aug 9 16:50:33 2024 UTC)
Also, a Bon Iver post (archived here) on X from August 6, 2024, said the band would perform at the rally the next day. The band's post appears below:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Aug 9 18:05:03 2024 UTC)
Videos
On YouTube, Lead Stories found multiple videos (archived here) from independent sources showing the Bon Iver performance. Although the viewing angles are not identical, they all show a full crowd behind the stage from which Harris and her running mate Tim Walz would later speak.
To show the crowd, Lead Stories compared the screenshot of Bon Iver from the social media post with screenshots from videos of the rally by PBS and Winona Daily News, a newspaper from a Minnesota town about 60 miles south of Eau Claire.
In addition to Vernon, who is wearing a camo ball cap, a white shirt and holding a guitar, all three images show the band's drummer (circled in yellow). The images, top to bottom, are from the social media post, PBS and then Winona Daily News:
(Source: X and YouTube screenshot taken on Fri Aug 9 2024 UTC)
Other videos of the rally can be found here, here, here and here.
Social media image
DeepFake-o-meter
The image in the social media post was not digitally manipulated or CGI'd. First, Lead Stories ran it through an online tool called the DeepFake-o-meter, hosted by The University at Buffalo's Media Forensic Lab, which focuses on "the forensic analysis of digital media." The following screenshot shows the findings: that the Bon Iver image at the rally shows no evidence of being AI-generated:
(Source: Deepfake-o-meter screenshot taken on Fri Aug 9 18:22:10 2024 UTC)
Hive Moderation
A tool on Hive Moderation, another website that detects AI-generated content, said the image is "not likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content." A screenshot appears below:
(Source: Hive Moderation screenshot taken on Fri Aug 9 18:31:06 2024 UTC)
Read more
Lead Stories has debunked other claims related to the 2024 presidential election, which can be read here.
