FACT CHECK: Image Purporting To Show Trump Holding Hurricane Relief Check Is AI-Generated

A viral image shared on X purports to show a Fox News graphic of 2024 Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump holding up a hurricane relief check.

Taylor Swift $5M
Dolly Parton $1M
Ryan Reynolds $1M
Metallica $500k

$1.3k is less than what Trump spends monthly on makeup and KFC. pic.twitter.com/EjNUrNnabH

— SarahCA (@SarahBCalif) October 14, 2024

Verdict: False

The image has been created with artificial intelligence (AI) and was originally posted on Reddit by a user known for sharing satirical AI-generated images of Trump. In addition, both a Fox News spokesperson and a media forensics and AI expert denied the image’s authenticity in respective emails to Check Your Fact.

Fact Check:

Trump is in a “dead heat” with 2024 Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a recent poll from NBC News. The same poll shows both candidates have received 48% support from registered voters, the outlet reported.

The X image, viewed over three million times as of writing, purports to show a Fox News graphic of Trump holding up a hurricane relief check. “Trump Donating $1300 For Hurricane Relief,” the purported Fox News chyron reads.

The image’s caption indicates Trump appears to have donated less money than other public figures, including country singer Dolly Parton, who supposedly donated $1 million to hurricane relief.

The claim is false, as the image is AI-generated. The image was originally posted on the Enough Trump Spam channel on Reddit by user @BobbyKristina, who is known for posting satirical AI-generated images of Trump.

Likewise, Check Your Fact conducted a content detection scan using Hive Moderation, and the results indicate the image is only 0.6% likely to be AI-generated. It is important to note that AI image detectors can be tricked if a user adds grain or texture to the image, making it less likely that the detector will correctly identify the content as AI, according to Business Insider.

Screenshot captured via Hive Moderation

In addition, the purported image can neither be found on Fox News’ website nor on its verified social media accounts. Trump does not appear to have publicly commented on the claim and Snopes debunked the claim on October 15. (RELATED: Did Donald Trump Donate $25 Million Dollars To Hurricane Victims?)

Furthermore, both a Fox News spokesperson and a media forensics and AI expert denied the image’s authenticity in respective emails to Check Your Fact.

“This image is fake,” the same Fox News spokesperson said.

“This image is likely the product of AI. The check that appears in this image has a bit of nonsense writing on it (“Trump Manie Mar MAIFAL”), and the individual characters that appear on it are not rendered properly in all cases (e.g., the last ‘0’ in “$1300″). Similarly, the text and logo on Trump’s shirt is nonsensical and poorly rendered. And the source of this image is thought to be a known parody account on the Internet,” Dr. Walter Scheirer, a media forensics and AI expert at the University of Notre Dame, said.

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