A wild claim began circulating on social media earlier this month, suggesting that three images shared online showed a young Kamala Harris dressed in revealing outfits while working as an "escort." In no time, all three photos went viral.
One caption claimed that staffers in San Francisco had revealed that the vice president had once worked as "an escort for judges, politicians, and various powerful businessmen to sway court cases and help push leftist policies in the state." Several social media users have since been left shocked after seeing the alleged photos of Harris in skimpy outfit. However, none of the three photos are real and the claim is false.
Fake Photos and Wild Claim
While no credible source for the photographs could be identified, one expert suggested that the images were of low quality and did not actually feature Harris.
The three images are visible in two X posts below, with the first being shared in mid-September (the photo on the left appears in both posts).
Also, there was no evidence supporting the claim that Harris had ever been an "escort," as stated in the captions. Given these factors, along with several others detailed below, the photos and the claims associated with them have been deemed false.
Using various reverse-image search tools, fact checking website Snopes.com found that the photos began circulating on Facebook, Instagram, X, and 4chan in early August, shortly after Harris officially announced her presidential candidacy.
A Reddit post and a Facebook post attributed the images to a "Glenn Sparks" on Facebook; however, the pictures could not be located on Sparks' account.
The latter Facebook post claimed the photo showed Harris in the 1980s "with Montel Williams (a television host and actor) at some awards show."
Truth Behind Bogus Claim
Several fact-checking websites also analyzed the photos in detail and branded it fake. Beginning with the second pair of photos featuring a woman in slightly different black and purple outfits, the individual bore a slight resemblance to the vice president, but upon closer inspection, did not seem to be Harris.
Hany Farid, a professor specializing in digital forensics and image analysis at the University of California, Berkeley, examined the images to assess whether artificial intelligence or photo editing software had been used to superimpose Harris' head onto another woman's body, or if any other alterations had taken place.
Farid, who analyzed the photos of the woman in black, said, " It is a pretty low-quality image, making an analysis difficult. But, I don't find any obvious signs that the image is AI-generated. I think it is more likely that this is a cheap fake and the person just isn't [Harris]."
He also ran the photo on the right through a facial biometric system and found no match with Harris at all.
Also, the posts containing the photos lacked any links to credible reporting, details about their origin, or reliable evidence beyond the low-quality pictures themselves, which raised immediate suspicion about their authenticity.
