Narrative Spotlight: Trump’s Support Among Black Voters

Recent reporting from BBC Panorama sheds light on a disconcerting trend among Donald Trump supporters—utilizing AI-generated deepfake images of Black voters to sway African Americans towards the Republican vote. These findings raise crucial questions about the intersection of technology, politics and misinformation in our increasingly digital age.

Where did this conversation originate? 

While the initial deepfake posts have been tied back to specific accounts, including Mark Kaye and his team at a conservative radio show in Florida, PeakMetrics’s narrative intelligence tracking has identified a broader narrative that’s been building over the past year. 

• November 2023 Initial Uptick: PeakMetrics identified a substantial increase in conversation around Trump's support among Black voters, spurred by findings from a November 2023 CNN poll.
• 2024 Escalation: The dialogue intensified throughout 2024, reaching a pinnacle on February 23, following Trump's remarks at the Black Conservative Federation Gala. 
• The speech triggered an astonishing 330.7% surge in week-over-week online conversations about Trump and Black voters, according to PeakMetrics’s narrative intelligence tracking. 
• Following the remarks, discussion of the Trump/Black voters narrative hit an unprecedented peak with 982 weekly posts, a stark contrast to just 2 posts per week a year prior.

As specific narratives gain traction, it underscores the heightened concern for misinformation and the proliferation of deepfakes in our discourse.

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