A Nazi magazine regularly published manipulated photos and misinformation, long before the age of AI

This spread reproduces images that appeared in the first issue of the llustrierter Beobachter, a Nazi publication, in July 1926, including one cropped image that falsely gives the impression that a Nazi event was well attended. Public domain

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed in August 2024 that a photograph of a large crowd of supporters welcoming Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to Detroit on Aug. 7 was doctored. Trump falsely wrote on Truth Social that the crowd did not exist because “she ‘A.I.’d’ it.”

Multiple independent news sources, including Reuters and the BBC, confirmed that the photograph was not created by artificial intelligence. The large crowds at other Harris rallies also suggested that this turnout was not an anomaly. But minuscule details such as the apparent lack of reflections on the plane made some conspiracy theorists skeptical.