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    • Here are the most viral Kamala Harris hoaxes we debunked
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    Here are the most viral Kamala Harris hoaxes we debunked

    Online Niel Posted on

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    Since Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate in August, she was the subject of a variety of false claims online.

    Now, less than a week until election daysocial media users continued to share misinformation about Harris, from altered images and videos to false statements about her policy proposals and ethnic. She too has made false and misleading claims, including in a debate when she misrepresented a SCOTUS rules on former President Donald Trumpmischaracterized Trump’s use of the word “bloodbath” and misdescribed Project 2025’s abortion initiatives.

    Various polls show Harris and Trump are neck and neck in key battleground states as the two candidates wrap them up the last week of the campaign.

    Here’s a series of checks on Harris from the USA TODAY Fact-Check team. We will publish a similar summary of Trump claims on November 1.

    More from the fact-checking team: How we select and research claims | Newsletter by e-mail | Facebook page

    Claim: Harris was raised in Canada, is not African-American, and held black prisoners over their release dates

    Our Rating: Partially False

    These statements exaggerate or misstate reality. Harris spent most of her childhood in the US before moving to Quebec at the age of 12 and staying until high school. While her mother was Indian and her father is Jamaican, she has long identified as black, and the federal government considers people of Jamaican descent to be black or African American. The prisoner claim mischaracterizes an argument made by lawyers for her California attorney general’s office about the need for nonviolent criminals to help fight wildfires.

    Full Fact Check: Misleading claims about Kamala Harris’s childhood and ethnicity

    Claim: Video shows Harris saying Biden is ‘unstable’

    Our Rating: Changed

    The clip is edited to make it appear Harris is talking about President Joe Biden. The original footage shows Harris using the word “unstable” after the interviewer asked for her thoughts on Trump’s mental state.

    Full Fact Check: Harris called Trump, not Biden, “unstable” in the Fox interview

    Claim: Harris said he would not accept the election results in the NBC interview

    Full Fact Check: No, Harris did not tell NBC that he would refuse to accept the election results

    Our Rating: False

    Harris said no such thing during the interview. She said she had a team ready to respond should Trump prematurely declare victory in the presidential election and criticized Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.

    Claim: Image shows The Atlantic headline about how Harris ‘might need to steal election’

    Our Rating: Changed

    The image is a fabrication. The Atlantic said the headline was a modified version of a 2021 article titled “Kamala Harris Might Have to Stop the Steal.”

    Full Fact Check: The headline that Harris must steal the election is fabricated

    Claim: The video shows Harris reading from a teleprompter during the Univision town hall

    Our Rating: False

    Harris did not read his responses from the teleprompter, according to the Univision News president and town hall moderator. A report from Univision News revealed that the text on the teleprompter was in Spanish and was meant to help the moderator introduce a contestant.

    Full Fact Check: The teleprompter was for the Univision moderator, not Harris

    Claim: The IRS approved Harris

    Our Rating: False

    The IRS has made no such approval. The union that represents IRS employees endorsed Harris, but does not speak for the agency.

    Full Fact Check: The union representing IRS employees endorsed Kamala Harris, not the IRS itself

    Claim: Harris visited the US southern border for the “first time” in September 2024

    Our Rating: False

    Harris’ trip to the US southern border in September 2024 was her second as vice president. She last visited the border in 2021 when she traveled to Texas.

    Full Fact Check: Harris visited the US southern border twice as vice president

    Claim: The video shows Harris’ slurred words in Helene’s remarks

    Our Rating: Changed

    The video was manipulated to slow down Harris’ speech. Videos shared by the White House, C-SPAN and the Associated Press show Harris speaking normally.

    Full Fact Check: The video of Harris ripping out words in the Helene warning is edited out

    Claim: Harris Down Payment Assistance Plan Excludes Relatives of Home Buyers

    Our Rating: False

    Harris’ campaign said her proposal would provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers who have paid their rent on time for two years. There is no evidence that the program was limited to people whose parents and siblings did not own a home.

    Full Fact Check: The Harris Plan for New Home Buyers does not exclude siblings, children of homeowners

    Claim: The video shows that Harris said “next question” to avoid CNN’s question about the economy

    Our Rating: Changed

    The clip is deceptively edited. The videos and a transcript of the August interview posted by CNN show that Harris did not say “the next question” to CNN anchor Dana Bash’s question about the economy. Harris made the remark at another point in the interview, in response to a question about her race.

    Full Fact Check: Harris said “next question” to ask about race, not economics

    Claim: Video shows Mike Pence endorsing Harris for president

    Our Rating: Changed

    The video was edited to cut out the beginning of former Vice President Pence’s sentence and change the meaning of his statement. Pence didn’t endorse Harris in the video, he said he couldn’t vote for her.

    Full fact check: Did Mike Pence endorse Kamala Harris for president? No, the clip is fake

    Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

    USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to impartiality, fairness and transparency. Our fact-checking activity is supported in part by a grant from Meta.

    (This story has been updated to add new information)

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