On August 9, lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili, and member of the Georgian Mission movement Ramaz Gagnidze posted images of incumbent US Vice-President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris. According to Zakareishvili, the images are early photos of Harris, while Gagnidze claims that the US presidential candidate is distinguished for “her LGBT talent and qualities.”
The images, which purportedly depict Kamala Harris’ past life are a photo fabrication designed to discredit the presidential candidate. From the defects visible in the photos, one can easily determine that the images are fabricated and do not depict Kamala Harris.
The photos of Kamala Harris, allegedly depicting the Vice President’s past activities as a sex worker, began circulating on various social networks (1;2;3;4) in early August. The earliest, August 1, can be found on American 4plebs, which is an archive of the 4chan forum. After the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, 4chan also spread disinformation that an American sniper was unhappy with the belated order from the head of the secret service to neutralize Trump’s assailant.
A number of signs pointing to fabrication can be seen on circulated visual material. According to the fact-checking platform, Logically Facts, the photograph showing Harris in a violet dress is entirely generated by artificial intelligence, as a number of details indicate.
In particular, Harris’ left hand is thicker than her right hand in the photo; the fingers also look disproportionate – one finger is significantly thinner than the others, and overall, the hand does not look natural. It is worth noting that despite the expanding capabilities of artificial intelligence, there remain particular features that are still difficult for AI to generate. Hands are one such feature, and human hands often look unnatural in AI-generated photos.
Another sign, in addition to disproportionate hands, is that the woman in the photo is wearing two necklaces that oddly merge. According to Logically, the necklace pictured is a mixture of a choker and a chain necklace.
The photograph also shows that a white car parked behind the woman has missing tail lights, which is another sign of manipulation.
An identical photo and information were shared by English-speaking users on various social networks, claiming that the photos of Harris were taken in 1996. However, Logically Facts published a photo of Harris taken during the same period. A comparison of the two photos leads to the conclusion that Harris actually looked different in the late 1990s, in particular, her cheekbones were less prominent.
The widespread photofabrication was also analyzed by the American fact-checking organization Snopes. In its verification piece, Snopes relies on the assessment of Professor Hany Farid of the University of California. According to Hany Farid, who specializes in digital forensics and image analysis, this is a low-quality image, and therefore it is difficult to say that it was generated by artificial intelligence. Consequently, it is a human-fabricated photo. Snopes compared the circulated photo and an actual photo of Kamala Harris and concluded that the shape and structure of the ear and the shape of the eyes in the circulated photo do not match those of the presidential candidate.
The second image, depicting Harris in a red dress, was also generated by artificial intelligence. In the photograph, it is noticeable that the woman’s arm hanging down appears unnaturally connected to her body and seems to merge with it. The fact-checking organization Open also drew attention to this detail.
After Kamila Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic Party candidate for the presidential election, a campaign to discredit her and the spread of false accusations began. During this time, the Myth Detector has verified a number of claims, including the one that Harris was a sex worker.
About the sources:
Lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili regularly spreads anti-Semitic, anti-Ukrainian, and anti-Western disinformation on Facebook. Myth Detector has repeatedly verified false information he has posted.
Ramaz Gagnidze is one of the founders of the Georgian Mission movement. He participated in a violent homophobic demonstration on July 5, 2021. He is one of those summoned by the police for questioning in the July 5 case. Earlier, Gagnidze also posted a fabricated photo on the social network.
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