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Andrea Austria / Media Matters

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“An unprecedented threat to democracy”: Hoaxes that right-wing media have been spreading during the 2024 election (so far)

Written by Charis Hoard

Research contributions from Chloe Simon

Published

Former President Donald Trump’s baseless claim during the last presidential debate that immigrants in a small Ohio town are abducting and eating pets provided a sample of the bizarre hoaxes and conspiracy theories that right-wing media have been promoting ahead of the 2024 election. Conservative media are clearly relying on amplifying a slew of falsehoods to muddy the political landscape, and political experts have warned that such misinformation “poses an unprecedented threat to democracy in the United States.”

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  • Right-wing hoaxes and conspiracy theories have permeated the 2024 election cycle

    • In the first presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump repeated a bizarre, debunked hoax from social media falsely claiming that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are abducting and eating neighborhood pets. Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck stated that there have been “no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.” Right-wing media have continued to amplify the hoax, plunging Springfield into chaos and leading to bomb threats there. [Media Matters, 9/10/24; The Associated Press, 9/11/24; The Washington Post, 9/12/24]
    • Right-wing media have a long history of promoting hoaxes by platforming conspiracy theorists, as well as creating and circulating deceptively edited videos and manipulated audio clips. Right-wing media figures in 2024 have promoted baseless claims on policy issues such as immigration and climate change, as well as hoaxes against political opponents including the Harris-Walz campaign. [Media Matters, 9/11/24, 9/11/24]
    • Political experts say that the continued promotion of hoaxes “poses an unprecedented threat to democracy in the United States.” According to University of Alabama journalism professor A.J. Bauer, “Right-wing media see a demand for content that is pro-Trump and leaning into conspiracy theories,” adding, “These outlets could be looking for examples of hyperlocal voter fraud or intimidation, even if it's not real.” [NBC News, 1/18/24]

  • Conservative figures have hurled baseless attacks at Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, as well as other Democratic leaders and perceived Trump opponents

    • During the first Harris-Trump presidential debate, right-wing media figures claimed that Harris' earrings were actually earpieces that were feeding her answers. According to Forbes, “It seems clear Harris was wearing the Tiffany earrings, which have been worn by Harris on several prior occasions, feature a pearl placed in front of a stud and slightly between two gold rods, while the audio earrings sport a singular clip design for ear lobes.” [Media Matters, 9/11/24; Forbes, 9/14/24]
    • Trump and his media allies have claimed that Harris is not really a Black woman. Harris has “never denied or downplayed” her Black and South Asian heritage, according to Forbes. The paper also noted that Harris “has repeatedly referenced her father as a Black man and herself as a Black woman throughout her political career, while also recognizing her mother’s Indian heritage.” [Media Matters, 9/11/24, 9/5/24, 8/14/24; Forbes, 9/10/24]
    • Right-wing media falsely claimed that Harris was ineligible to run for office because her parents were not born in the U.S. Harris was born in California and is thus eligible for the presidency, regardless of her parents being immigrants. [CBS News, 7/23/24]
    • TikTok videos spread a conspiracy theory from Trump claiming that photos showing the size of Harris' campaign rally crowds are manipulated by AI to make them appear larger. The claim originated from Trump on his Truth Social site. According to Snopes, the photo of the crowd is not manipulated and was taken by a Harris campaign staff member. [Media Matters, 8/13/24; Snopes, 8/14/24]
    • Right-wing figures on social media baselessly misrepresented Harris' comments about “joy” as a theme throughout her presidential campaign to be a reference to a Nazi-era program. “Strength through joy,” a slogan attributed to a 1930s Nazi-era program, has never been used or alluded to by the Harris campaign. [FactCheck.org, 8/29/24]
    • Right-wing media claimed that an ABC whistleblower had evidence of the Harris campaign receiving sample questions “that were ‘essentially the same questions that were given during the debate.’” The claims were published by an unverified source claiming that an “affidavit” was written by an ABC employee. ABC News has stated that Harris was “absolutely not … given any questions before the debate.”  [Twitter/X, 9/12/24; The Daily Beast, 9/14/24, 9/17/24]
    • Right-wing media circulated multiple manipulated videos from the Republican National Committee's rapid response team, including one in which Biden appears to say he “sold a lot of state secrets.” An article by The Gateway Pundit included an abridged version of the White House transcript of Biden’s exchange, withholding the next line where he established his statement was a joke. [Media Matters, 6/26/24]
    • Some right-wing figures alleged that Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race was connected to the July 13 assassination attempt against Trump. Trump ally Laura Loomer claimed, “The only reason @JoeBiden is dropping out today is because his administration plotted an assassination of Donald Trump and missed.” There is no evidence to suggest that Biden was in any way connected to the attempted assassination of Trump. [Media Matters, 7/21/24]
    • Following Biden's exit from the 2024 race, right-wing media figures suggested that the president might be missing or had passed away. On July 22, Loomer wrote, “Joe Biden is dying and final preparations are being made for him. He was supposed to leave Delaware today, but his health has deteriorated.” [PolitiFact, 7/23/24]
    • After Biden ended his 2024 campaign, right-wing accounts on TikTok spread manipulated audio from a 2023 speech to attack Harris. [Media Matters, 7/22/24]
    • Right-wing media spread false claims that Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, supported legislation to designate perpetrators of child sexual assault as a protected class. In actuality, the bill would revise language in state legislation that erroneously linked perpetrators of child sexual assault to sexual orientation. Right-wing media have repeatedly described LGBTQ people as sexual predators or “groomers” to promote baseless hatred fueling violence against the LGBTQ community. [Media Matters, 8/14/24, 1/23/23; USA Today, 5/5/23]
    • Right-wing media used a mistranslated video of a speech by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to call for her deportation and expulsion from Congress. The clip, originating from Omar's speech in Somali to constituents, was mistranslated by a Somaliland official to claim that Omar declared that “the United States government 'will only do what Somalians in the US tell them to do' and that Somali people ‘are Somalians first, Muslims second.’” [Media Matters, 1/31/24]
    • Right-wing media have repeatedly claimed that Democrats were conspiring to place former first lady Michelle Obama as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, despite her repeated statements that she will not go into politics. Obama has said that she has “never expressed any interest in politics. Ever. … And the people who get into it — you’ve got to want it. It’s got to be in your soul, because it is so important. It is not in my soul.” [Media Matters, 12/30/23; Rolling Stone, 4/25/23]
    • During Trump's hush money trial, right-wing media spread unfounded claims about presiding Judge Juan Merchan's daughter, claiming a conflict of interest in the case. Trump shared false allegations originating from Laura Loomer, who claimed that Merchan's daughter had an X account that “used an image of the former president behind bars as a social media profile picture.” The New York State Court system has called the X account “bogus.” [Media Matters, 4/3/24; The New York Times, 3/28/24]
    • Right-wing media falsely claimed that the Planned Parenthood mobile health unit situated in neighborhoods near the Democratic convention was sponsored by the DNC. It was not connected to or sponsored by the DNC. [Media Matters, 8/22/24]
    • Right-wing media falsely claimed that Harris would ban red meat. Right-wing media misrepresented a 2019 comment in which Harris had suggested she'd support “changes to dietary guidelines to reduce the consumption of red meat, in light of its impact on climate change.” In fact, Harris said that she would express “support for incentives rather than bans” and emphasized the need to “accurately measure the impact of food production on our health and environment.” [Media Matters, 8/6/24]

  • Right-wing media figures have repeatedly promoted debunked claims about election fraud alongside conspiracy theories and misinformation

    • Right-wing media and Trump continue to claim that widespread election fraud influenced the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Election denier organization True the Vote, created by former Tea Party members, has stated that it will be offering local sheriffs' offices help with “camera equipment” to monitor mail-in ballot drop boxes during the 2024 election cycle. According to Brennan Center for Justice, “most reported incidents of voter fraud are actually traceable to other sources, such as clerical errors or bad data matching practices.” [Media Matters, 9/9/24; 8/6/24; Brennan Center for Justice, accessed 9/17/24]
    • Echoing the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, right-wing media figures have claimed that Democrats are encouraging undocumented people to vote during the 2024 election and using the DMV to facilitate noncitizen voting. Ahead of the 2024 election, Trump and his allies in right-wing media have recycled this theory in fearmongering that undocumented immigrants will vote in November. Election experts have asserted that noncitizen voting in both state and federal elections is “vanishingly rare.” [Media Matters, 9/11/24, 7/11/24; Brennan Center for Justice, accessed 9/17/24]
    • Right-wing media claim that Russian interference in the presidential election is a hoax created by the “deep state.” According to a recent federal indictment, several right-wing and MAGA media pundits have been implicated in receiving money from “a content creation company that was a front for Russian propagandists.” [Media Matters, 9/5/24, 9/5/24, 9/5/24, 9/6/24, 9/6/24]
    • An edited photo of pop star Taylor Swift purporting to show that she endorsed Trump in this election cycle circulated throughout right-wing media. The photo, originating from a September 2023 NFL game between the Chicago Bears and the Kansas City Chiefs, was intentionally altered to add a Trump flag. [FactCheck.org, 2/2/24]
    • Following the September 4 mass shooting at a Georgia high school, Trump ally and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer said, “I don't think it's a coincidence. I think it's really bizarre how every single time there's a major election, there's always a school shooting.” There is no evidence to suggest that school shootings are strategically timed to correspond with major elections; since 2021, there have been at least 150 incidents of gunfire on school campuses each year. [Media Matters, 9/5/24; Everytown Research & Policy, accessed 9/17/24]

  • Anti-migrant misinformation has permeated right-wing media coverage, amplifying xenophobic rhetoric

    • Multiple right-wing media outlets amplified a bizarre hoax that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating neighborhood pets. Trump later repeated the claim during September's presidential debate, with ABC News moderator David Muir noting that the city manager of Springfield said there are “no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.” [Media Matters, 9/10/24, 9/10/24, 9/9/24]
    • Right-wing media seized on a single TikTok of a person “instructing viewers in Spanish how to expropriate a house if it's not inhabited,” to claim that “migrant squatters” are invading people’s homes. Although there was no proof beyond the TikTok, the story was repeated on Fox News, Twitter, and conservative outlets like The Gateway Pundit. [Media Matters, 3/22/24]
    • Right-wing media falsely claimed that airports are allowing migrants through security without identification by using an app called CBP One. In reality, the app “requires a photo of every migrant utilizing the app, collects users’ biometric information, and can require them to provide their GPS location.” [Media Matters, 1/25/24]

  • Right-wing media fueled anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans hatred in coverage of the Olympics, school shootings, and other high-profile news stories

    • Right-wing media called for Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif to be disqualified from women's boxing at the 2024 Olympics, echoing anti-trans claims that gender-inclusive eligibility rules “allow men who merely say they are women to fight against women.” The results of the “gender eligibility test,” which disqualified Khelif from the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championships, were administered by the International Boxing Association, which does not oversee boxing at the Olympics and has ties to the Kremlin. [FactCheck.org, 8/14/24; Media Matters, 2/21/24]
    • Right-wing media claimed that the Apalachee High School shooter was a trans person and was “motivated by trans activism.” In reality, the shooter had “allegedly shared plans for a mass shooting targeting LGBTQ people and made anti-trans posts.” There is also no evidence to suggest that the shooter was trans. [Media Matters, 9/9/24]
    • Right-wing media have repeatedly amplified baseless claims that children are receiving gender-affirming surgeries at school without parental consent. CNN notes that “Trump’s own presidential campaign could not provide a single example of this ever happening.” [Media Matters, 9/10/24; CNN, 9/4/24]
    • Right-wing media have accused countless figures of secretly being transgender, instigating “transvestigations” fueled by anti-trans hatred. So-called transvestigations have targeted Michelle Obama, French first lady Brigitte Macron, and WNBA star Britney Griner, fueling anti-trans rhetoric and hatred in the process. [Media Matters, 6/25/24, 3/19/24]

  • Right-wing media continue pushing absurd conspiracy theories to deny the reality of climate change

    • Right-wing media keep denying the existence of climate change using unfounded, unscientific claims. Despite the scientific consensus that “human activities (primarily the human burning of fossil fuels) have warmed Earth’s surface and its ocean basins,” right-wing media have jeered that believing in climate science is “the religion of the left.” [Media Matters, 4/9/24, 2/27/24, 1/9/24; NASA, accessed 9/17/24]
    • Right-wing media have claimed that temperatures in the arctic and regions experiencing cold weather prove that climate change isn't real. [Media Matters, 3/11/24, 1/19/24]
    • Right-wing media circulated false claims that Harris encouraged young people to not have kids because of climate change. In actuality, Harris empathized with young voters' fears about climate change at a college event, noting that the Biden administration had invested “over a trillion dollars … around things like climate resilience and adaptation.” [Media Matters, 7/31/24]
    • Right-wing media mischaracterized the Biden administration's initiatives to incentivize electric vehicle production to claim that Harris “does want to take away your car.” In actuality, both the Biden administration and the Harris campaign have worked to expand access to electric vehicles, and have not implemented a federal mandate to obligate drivers to buy electric vehicles, or to relinquish their current vehicles. [Media Matters, 9/10/24]
    • Multiple right-wing media figures have asserted a bogus claim that climate scientists are manipulating temperature data. The claim comes from a report published by The Heartland Institute, the right-wing think tank promoting climate change denialism in government and media. [Media Matters, 2/1/24]