Within minutes of President Joe Biden endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him on the Democratic Party’s ticket on Sunday, the internet erupted with lies, distorted photographs, and other false allegations about Harris.

Some fans of former President Donald Trump, the Republican contender for the November election, even claimed Biden was the victim of a coup.

Meanwhile, a flurry of slickly crafted pro-Harris videos soon spread on social media as her supporters attempted to capitalize on the situation.

The venom and counter-punches are a likely preview of the remaining three months of the presidential race when a fierce battle to mold and destroy Harris’ image will take place at a time when social media companies have reduced disinformation controls.

“As Kamala Harris becomes more likely to be the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee and gains more public attention, the amount of disinformation and misleading rhetoric will increase exponentially,” Erik Nisbet, a professor at Northwestern University’s School of Communication, told CNN.

Harris | CNN

As Harris Moves To Secure The Democratic Nomination, Misinformation Follows Soon After Online

On X, owner Elon Musk fueled an antisemitic conspiracy theory by responding to a photo of Harris with Alexander Soros, son of billionaire megadonor George Soros, by implying that Harris was a “puppet” of the family. Musk embraced Trump this month, sharing pro-Trump content with almost 190 million followers.

Photoshopped photographs of Harris have also surfaced. One photo of Harris smiling with her husband was altered to make it appear like the vice president was posing with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and accused sex trafficker.

In the hours following Biden’s revelation, the hashtag “She’s Indian” trended on X, with some users spreading a false rumor about Harris being “not Black” (Harris’ mother was born in India and her father in Jamaica).

PeakMetrics, a social media analytics firm, examined approximately 175,000 posts on X between 6 and 7 p.m. ET on Sunday that addressed Harris about Biden’s statement and discovered that 8.3% of the postings used “racialized” language, while 4.5% used “sexualized” language.

Biden’s likeness was also utilized following his announcement, which was made via a social media post rather than a broadcast address. A bogus, expletive-laden video purporting to show Biden announcing his decision to withdraw from the race began circulating on X.

PBS News, whose logo appeared in the video, issued a statement labeling it a ” deep fake,” adding, “PBS News did not authorize the use of this video, and we do not condone altering news video or audio in any way that could mislead the audience.”

Pro-Harris videos flooded TikTok, with many citing a coconut joke that has become synonymous with support for her candidacy. (In 2023, Harris delivered a speech on expanding chances for Hispanic Americans that featured a statement attributed to her mother on understanding the context of young people’s lives: “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”) One TikTok video, a compilation of Harris memes, had almost 712,000 likes and 73,000 shares.

Harris’ crew has also embraced a popular post by British pop singer Charli XCX, who referred to Harris as a “brat,” a phrase encompassing women’s and LGBTQ+ empowerment.

As Harris Moves To Secure The Democratic Nomination, Misinformation Follows Soon After Online

Russian official media also quickly responded to Biden’s decision to withdraw. Sputnik, one of several pro-Kremlin mouthpieces, wrongly claimed in a tweet that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been a “curse” to Biden.

“I don’t think Kremlin-aligned accounts will drive conversations related to this news,” said Joseph Bodnar, a researcher who studies pro-Kremlin media for CNN. “But they’re certainly happy to boost divisive domestic narratives.”

Some experts predict that foreign operations will struggle to keep up with the real-life twists and turns of the US presidential campaign.

“Imagine being a foreign disinfo/information operations actor trying to compete with the actual news this election cycle,” joked Shane Huntley, a cyber threat intelligence expert at Google, on X.

SOURCE | CNN

In a television interview on Friday, US President Joe Biden deflected queries on his mental health in an attempt to put a stop to demands that he withdraw his reelection campaign after his dismal debate performance with former President Donald J. Trump.

Sensations of discontent among certain Democratic voters, lawmakers, and fundraisers were growing, and the one-on-one meeting with the ABC network was billed as the most important of the 81-year-old president’s lengthy career.

However, the 22-minute sit-down with  ABC’s George Stephanopoulos seemed to offer little comfort as Biden continued to downplay polls and party concerns that the debate had seriously harmed his chances while blaming illness for his poor performance.

“I was feeling sick and miserable. The president stated, “I just had a really bad cold,” in his first lengthy, unscripted statement since his confrontation with Republican challenger Donald Trump last week.

The purpose of the interview was to help Biden weather the storm, but his rough voice and rambling responses immediately prompted criticism from Democrats for coming across as “out of touch.”

“I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me,” Biden responded when asked if continuing in the race would endanger Democrats’ chances of winning the presidency.

Biden was Defiant

He declined requests for a mental health evaluation, claiming that his daily tasks as president need him to take a cognitive test. I have to pass that test every day for all I do.

As the program aired, the Trump campaign jokingly stated on social media that “Biden sounds great” before declaring that the president “is in denial and in decline.”

The interview followed Biden’s sluggish and frequently nonsensical performance in the Atlanta debate against Trump, which sent shockwaves through his party and prompted demands for him to withdraw from the contest.

The Biden team has strongly refuted any notion that he could pull out and, in the final hours before the ABC interview, unveiled a rigorous campaign itinerary for the remainder of July.

The president made a strong declaration during an animated stump speech at a Madison, Wisconsin, campaign rally: “I’m staying in the race.” Donald Trump will lose to me.

Following the debate, surveys have showed a growing margin in favor of Trump, and a number of Democratic-leaning political pundits, major newspapers, and at least four members of Congress have called for Biden to resign.

Democrats turning on Biden

US media reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner were arranging crisis discussions with members in the coming days.

Throughout Friday’s interview, ABC interviewer George Stephanopoulos brought up the rising Democratic demand for a discussion on selecting a new candidate and questioned Biden about his willingness to resign if he became certain he couldn’t defeat Trump.

“Well, that depends. He responded, “I might do that if the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that.”

After the fact, Biden clarified that he had not seen the debate, saying, “I don’t think I did, no.”

He also rejected the notion that his subpar performance was an indication of a more significant medical issue.

“It was a bad episode with no signs of a major illness.” I was worn out. In terms of getting ready, I disregarded my gut feelings, and I had a terrible night,” Biden remarked.

Top White House assistant to Barack Obama, David Axelrod, who has occasionally caused trouble for the Biden administration, claimed that the interview revealed a president who is “dangerously out of touch” and expressed doubts about his suitability for office.

He led Trump by ten points at this moment four years ago (in polls). He is now six points behind, according to Axelrod’s post on X.

According to the White House, Biden will travel to Pennsylvania this weekend and then deliver a press conference during the NATO summit in Washington the following week.

President Joe Biden on Thursday told supporters I’m not going anywhere” to a crowd gathered for a July Fourth barbecue on the White House South Lawn Thursday. His comments come after his disastrous debate with former President Donald J. Trump.

President Biden is facing a growing sense that he may have just days to make a persuasive case that he is fit for office before Democratic support for him completely evaporates.

In a Wednesday night meeting with Democratic governors, Biden acknowledged that he needs to get more sleep and limit evening events so he can turn in earlier to be rested for the job, according to three people familiar with the meeting, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

One person said the president joked that his health was fine, it was his brain that had challenges.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was in the meeting, was asked Thursday by the Associated Press about the idea that Biden wants to limit events after 8 p.m. and responded: “He did that with a smile on his face. It was more of a rhetorical framework of just being fit and rested.”

Newsom, who was campaigning for Biden in western Michigan, added, “I like when a president acknowledges they’re human.”

Biden at a make of break moment

In an interview with a Wisconsin radio station that aired Thursday, Biden argued that much more than his own political future was in jeopardy, saying: “The stakes are really high. I know you know this. For democracy, for freedom … our economy, they’re all on the line.”

The interview on the Earl Ingram Show on the Civic Media Radio Network, taped Wednesday, was the part of a media and public events blitz that the Democratic president and his staff have acknowledged as a make-or-break moment.

At the July Fourth barbecue, President Biden welcomed military families formally from a lectern, but then went over to personally greet the crowd for a few moments.

He suddenly grabbed a microphone and stood in the center of the grass, explaining that there were thousands of people waiting to come into the party and he needed to duck back inside because the grounds were locked down as long as he was out there.

The president is scheduled to campaign in Wisconsin on Friday and sit for an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that will air as a prime-time special that night.

He plans to be in Philadelphia on Sunday and hold a full news conference during the NATO summit in Washington next week.

It is not a given that his campaign will survive even that long if he does not deliver a strong showing on ABC. Discussions that were once a whisper around who should step into his place should he bow out are growing louder.

For now, President Biden is not ready to walk away and he has communicated that in conversations with Democratic governors, close allies and staffers from his campaign.

Source: AP

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