President Donald Trump has claimed fraud with mail-in ballots in the California election. And recent social media posts appear to back up that claim.
The posts feature a woman with blue hair in front of a ballot box holding a stack of folded papers. Posts accuse her of “stuffing” the ballot box or voting multiple times.
But none of them are real, according to PolitiFact. The photo was created using artificial intelligence and different users added various explanations of the image.
In each of the posts, there is a logo of the Google AI tool Gemini in the bottom right corner of the photo. Also, a sign on the front of the ballot box contains misspelled words and some that are just gibberish.
California allows voters to have another person drop off their mail-in ballot, however the boxes are placed in public locations and have constant video surveillance.
Procession not a memorial
British teen Henry Nowak, 18, was stabbed to death last year in Southern England. A recent release of bodycam footage, showing Nowak pleading for help, has been met with controversy and anger.
A June 5 X post, showing a large group of people kneeling in the street while listening to prayers, is purportedly a tribute to Nowak.
“Wow this was in Poland the polish people taking the knee for Henry Nowak!,” the post read. “Just human beings recognising (stet) the loss of another human being. In a world that can often feel cold and divided, moments like this restore a little faith in humanity.”
But this video isn’t about Nowak, according to Reuters. It shows people participating in a Corpus Christi procession in Poland. Corpus Christi is an annual celebration in the Catholic Church honoring the Eucharist.
Text on the original post reads, “MILLIONS all over Poland took to the streets today, proudly and unashamedly, to celebrate their devotion to God, their traditions, and their homeland as ‘Boże Ciało’ (Corpus Christi) celebrations were observed nationwide! THIS IS POLAND!”
Content creator Hektik Hektor, who posted the original video on June 5 to X and a longer version to YouTube, told Reuters the video had nothing to do with Nowak. He said the clip shows the procession, which concluded with the participants kneeling and praying.
Prayers that can be heard in the background don’t mention Nowak.
Welker not suspended
President Donald Trump recently sat down for an interview with journalist Kristen Welker of “Meet the Press.”
When Welker asked the president for evidence to support his claim that the 2020 election was rigged, Trump appeared agitated, abruptly ended the interview and walked out.
Following that incident, a post circulated on social media saying that Welker had been suspended.
“NBC has suspended Kristen Welker from ‘Meet the Press’ for losing her cool and raising her voice at the President of the United States,” read a June 8 Facebook post which included a photo of Welker. “‘There were better ways to ask what she was asking,’ said NBC Talent Director Joe Barron, ‘She pushed him into a response for what certainly looked like political purposes.’ Barron said he’s not sure how long the suspension will last or if Welker will continue to host the Sunday Morning show. ‘She was obviously not ready for the big league.’”
But this claim is false, according to Snopes. The post is satire.
There was no mention of Welker being suspended on any news outlets, and NBC didn’t issue any statements about Welker following that interview.
However there was a watermark on the post which read, “Nothing on this page is real.”
Earthquake video is old
A June 8 earthquake in the Philippines killed at least 35 people, injured more than 100 and destroyed buildings.
Among the social media posts following the incident was a video posted June 7 on X, that read, “7.8 earthquake hits the Philippines today!!” The clip showed people in a wide-open building screaming as debris was falling from the ceiling.
Although much of the footage posted to social media was real, this video is miscaptioned, according to PolitiFact. The clip is more than two years old.
That video, taken at a mall in General Santos City, is actually from a magnitude 6.8 earthquake on Nov. 17, 2023, that also took place in the Philippines and killed 11 people.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.
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