Claim: A viral video shows a large crowd gathered on Mount Everest for Kamala Harris’ rally.
Fact: The video is AI-generated.
On 15 August, X (formerly Twitter) user @Alphafox78 shared a video (archive) showing a huge crowd, some holding banners, apparently at a rally on Mount Everest that was hosted by Harris. The caption added,
“Kamala Harris hosts a rally on the top of Mount Everest to an astonishingly large crowd! Wow!”
The video in the post shows a scenic view of the mountain base, where thousands dissolve into a thin line as the camera pans from left to right. The text superimposed on the video claimed, “Breaking: Kamala hosts rally at top of Mount Everest! 9 billion attend!”
Fact or Fiction?
A video showing a rally on top of Mount Everest can only be fictional, and was perhaps generated using artificial intelligence, as more than 300 hundred climbers have died in their attempts to reach the peak. The site has also become a graveyard for 200 of their bodies.
The words on the banners held by participants are gibberish while the crowd visibly dissolves into a thin line on the right, where the base of the mountain begins. The aforementioned are telltale signs of content generated by AI software.
Moreover, Soch Fact Check found posts with users asserting that the video was the result of artificial intelligence. “They want AI? Let’s give them some really good AI!” an X (formerly Twitter) user wrote.
We also found the video was shared on X ironically, as part of an exchange between the online supporters of Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, and the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
“It’s over for the other guy. She has more supporters than actually exist. Game over,” wrote @fightwithmemes about the video.
“I will do ya one better,” wrote another in response, sharing an AI-generated video of Harris hosting a rally on the moon with Talking to the Moon by Bruno Mars playing over the clip.
Another user posted an AI-generated picture of Harris’ supporters in the Grand Canyon.
However, the post’s virality on social platforms indicates the proliferation of AI-generated content contributing to widespread misinformation and disinformation surrounding the upcoming US presidential election.
Harris has been garnering huge crowds in her rallies after she announced Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, as her Democratic running mate for the vice presidential office. The Harris-Walz duo attracted more than 15,000 people in their rally in Glendale, Arizona on 9 August 2024. However, Trump also held a rally at the same location on 23 August, drawing 2,000 more than Harris’ rally, the total head count being 17,000.
The Democratic nominees also pulled a full-crowd rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 20 August 2024, the same day when the Democratic National Convention entered its second day in Chicago, where Harris officially accepted the Democratic party’s presidential nomination.
Meanwhile, former US president, and rival Republican candidate Donald Trump has taken to social media to spread disinformation about the crowd sizes at the Harris’ rallies. He falsely claimed that the crowd gathered at Detroit airport for Harris was AI-generated, a claim debunked by The Associated Press and AFP.
In response to large crowds drawn by Harris, he claimed: “I’ve spoken to the biggest crowds… Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me.”
Virality
The X post was viewed 148,000 times and liked 1000 times.
It was shared on X here, here, here, here.
On Facebook here, here, and here.
Conclusion: A viral video, showing a huge crowd gathered at Mount Everest for a rally by Kamala Harris, is AI-generated.
Background image in cover photo: 19th News
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