With the presidential election just days away, misinformation experts are warning of a rise in fake images leading to false narratives about key voting communities, particularly black men.

“We are seeing an increase in AI-driven images that suggest black men support Donald Trump, when in reality these images are false,” said Alphonso David, president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, making referring to AI footage that shows former President Donald Trump with a group of black men.

“We have to be very, very careful about where these stories come from,” David added. “What we’re seeing is a lot of misinformation about black men’s political views or propensity to vote.”

As artificial intelligence-generated images flood social media, community leaders say even a fake photo can send a message.

“It’s not just about fake photos,” said Cliff Albright, founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund. “It’s false information. It’s false narratives.”

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The story that Trump is the preferred candidate of black men has spread for more than a year as fake images populated social media platforms like X. The fake images were shared before President Joe Biden ends his re-election campaign and Vice President Kamala Harris enters the race. race.

The stories contradict polling data. An October poll from New York Times and Sienna College shows that 70% of likely black voters say they plan to vote for Harris, while 20% say they will vote for Trump. A recent Howard University Survey shows that an “overwhelming majority of black voters” in swing states chose Harris as their preferred candidate.

While support among black voters increased after President Biden withdrew and Harris entered the race, Trump made notable gains with black male voters as his appeal among young male voters in general grew. is increased. According to the Times-Sienna poll, up six points from 2020, about 15% of Black voters said they planned to vote for the former president this year.

As the presidential race remains neck and neck and candidates count on all corners of the major voting blocs, the Harris campaign and the Democratic Party have stepped up their outreach to black male voters.

The Harris campaign — in an effort to better reach this base — recently released a “Black Male Opportunity Agenda”, a platform that includes small business loans, training for “good paying jobs” and the legalization of recreational marijuana. The campaign was also broadcast on a new announcement, narrated by a black man.

“Let’s be honest and face reality,” the ad’s narrator says. “Women know how to make things happen.”

Popular Democrats like former President Barack Obama have denounced the narrative that black men would not support Harris in her bid for the White House because she is a woman.

“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just don’t feel the idea of ​​having a woman as president,” Obama said earlier this month while on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania. “And you offer other alternatives and reasons for it.”

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During a virtual panel discussion Sunday hosted by the PAC Win With Black Men, Obama praised black men for educating and mobilizing voters.

“It also speaks to the fact that there are a lot of brothers who want to get involved. And if given the opportunity and given direction, they are willing to roll up their sleeves and make things happen. things,” he said.

Harris, meanwhile, has taken to black media platforms to speak with and with black men.

“Black men are no different than anyone else. They expect you to earn their vote,” the vice president said in a statement. interview on The Shade Room.

Yet community leaders say the dominant narratives about Back men voters and which candidate they prefer range from misleading to false. Misinformation expert Esosa Osa, founder of Onyx Impact, said false narratives claiming black men wouldn’t vote for a woman appear to be spreading intentionally.

“There are people in some of these Black online spaces who are seeking to divide, who are profiting from the division of the Black community,” she told Scripps News.

Osa said false and controversial narratives “exploit existing distrust.”

“The more doubt and mistrust you put into this process, in various communities, the less power that community will have. And the more fear and distrust this community will have,” she added.

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Albright said those who spread misinformation about Black voters are using a “cynical strategy” to sow confusion and discourage Black voter participation.

“They’re not even really trying to win over black voters,” he said. “What they’re trying to do is try to get black voters to stay home. This is a very cynical strategy. It’s a very anti-Black strategy to try to get us to focus only on our grievances, on our frustrations. »

While many photos of Trump with black men clearly appear to be AI-generated, Albright says the fake images leave a lasting impression.

“There’s this idea that black men are ready to be taken. That if you send enough information to black men, enough negative information, maybe enough information about a black woman who shouldn’t be able to lead, enough misogyny, then you can bring a certain segment of black men to stay away,” Albright said. .

“Staying away, just upset and not wanting to participate,” he added.