At a voter event hosted by the Univision television network last week, Republican candidate Donald Trump repeated the accusation that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Ohio, falsely claiming it had been reported.
The story, which originated from rumors on Facebook, was refuted by Springfield city officials but continues to be repeated by Trump and his vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, in one of the most relevant examples of the disinformation that has marked the presidential campaign in the United States.
According to news verification platform NewsGuard, 39 false narratives linked to the election have been published on various websites since September 1, with seven appearing in the last week.
Among the examples of falsehoods propagated by several websites is the false news that a video shows a man who accused Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz of molesting him in 1997.
Another false narrative shows Trump with a giant $1,300 check for victims of hurricanes Milton and Helene and another alleges that Kamala Harris was a member of the Soviet Communist Party.
"Since late August 2024, after former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris accepted party nominations, NewsGuard has identified an average of six new election-related false claims per week, as well as 318 websites that promote these false narratives", indicated the platform.
There are 1,238 partisan-leaning websites "masquerading" as neutral local media outlets, NewsGuard identified, with many being "secretly funded by political organizations without informing readers."
A growing trend in this electoral cycle is the circulation on social media of 'deep fakes', images created by generative Artificial Intelligence models. One example, shared by Donald Trump on his Truth Social network, showed the support of Taylor Swift and her fans (Swifties) for the Republican candidacy, when in fact the singer supports Kamala Harris.
But the candidate accused his Democratic opponent of manipulating images to show rallies with large crowds, something that the media present refuted.
At rallies he has held in critical states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Donald Trump also continues to defend arguments that do not correspond to the truth, including that illegal immigrants are voting, that Iran spied on his campaign and passed the information to Kamala Harris, that the early voting is used by authorities to commit fraud, that the White House is behind its criminal prosecutions, and that voting by mail is unsafe and fraudulent.
Another topic causing an increase in misinformation is the destruction caused by hurricanes Milton and Helene. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene cried out online that the government can control the weather and circulated a map that questions why hurricanes only hit Republican regions.
Lies about the support provided by the federal emergency agency (FEMA) have also been circulating, and Donald Trump propagated several of them on his social network and at rallies. As a result, agency workers have received death threats in North Carolina and the Center for Civil Rights and Technology issued an opinion on Monday urging social media to address the issue.
The former president's campaign has been marked not only by a significant volume of debunked allegations but also by growing hostility towards journalists and the cancellation of several interviews.
After the presidential debate between Trump and Harris, the former president cursed ABC News moderator David Muir, who denied some of the Republican's statements live. He also decided to cancel his appearance on the CBS program "60 Minutes" and said the network should have its license revoked for having "edited" the interview with Kamala Harris, accusing her of election interference.
Jessica Rosenworcel, president of the commission that administers communications licenses in the United States (FCC), rejected the possibility, clarifying that a broadcaster does not risk its license just because a candidate does not like the news coverage.
Trump also chose to cancel interviews with NBC and CNBC, in addition to deciding not to go to the Shade Room, which he recently spoke with Kamala Harris.
Two weeks before the elections, the two candidates are technically tied in the polls.
