Trump supporters are using AI-generated images to target black voters

It's been revealed by the BBC that supporters of Donald Trump have been creating and sharing AI-generated images of Black Trump supporters, to encourage Black people to vote for Trump in the election this year.

BBC Panorama discovered dozens of deepfakes that portrayed black people supporting the former president and likely Republican nominee for 2024. There seems to be no sign of foreign influence, with the images appearing to be made by US voters.

The co-founder of Black Voters Matter said the manipulated images were pushing a "strategic narrative" designed to show Mr Trump as popular amongst black voters.

Speaking to the BBC, one creator of the images said: "I'm not claiming it's accurate."

The deepfakes appear to signal an emerging trend of disinformation ahead of the presidential election in November.

One creator of such images is Mark Kaye, who works for a conservative radio show in Florida.

They created an image of Trump smiling, whilst surrounded by Black women. Kaye shared the photo on Facebook, where he has more than one million followers.

"I'm not a photojournalist," Kaye tells the BBC.

"I'm not out there taking pictures of what's really happening. I'm a storyteller."

The photo, generated by Kaye looks realistic at first glance, but closer inspection shows people with very shiny skin and missing fingers - some clues of AI-generated images.

Kaye attached the image to an article about Black voters supporting Trump, suggesting the image is real.

"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!'" he said.

"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."

Cliff Albright, the co-founder of campaign group Black Voters Matter, said there appeared to be a resurgence of disinformation tactics targeting the Black community.

"There have been documented attempts to target disinformation to black communities again, especially younger black voters," he said.

Sign upto our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel