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Quick Take
Social media posts baselessly claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris wore earrings equipped with audio devices in order to cheat during her debate with former President Donald Trump. Similar unfounded claims circulated before or after debates in 2016 and 2020 with Trump’s past political opponents.
Full Story
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump clashed in their first presidential debate on Sept. 10 in Philadelphia. Before the debate, the candidates agreed to a set of rules, including no prewritten notes or props and no interaction with their staff members during the two commercial breaks.
But viral posts on social media baselessly claimed that Harris cheated by wearing earrings that contained earphones and suggested that her remarks and responses were fed to her during the debate.
A Sept. 10 Instagram post, which received more than 39,000 likes, said, “The earphone earring that Kamala was apparently wearing was created in early 2023.” The post shows an image of an article touting “Nova H1 audio earrings.”
Another Instagram post reads: “BUSTED! SHE’S WEARING EARPHONE EARRINGS.” The post shows photos of Harris’ pearl earring and a similar but not identical earring identified in an ad as a Nova H1 audio earring.
The posts are echoes of unfounded claims made about Trump’s previous political adversaries before or after debates.
In September 2016, after the first debate between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the website Charisma News falsely claimed that closeup photos of Clinton’s ear showed she was wearing an earpiece or hearing aid. PolitiFact examined photos of her ear on the night of the debate that did not show any hearing device, and a Clinton spokesperson told PolitiFact she “was not wearing an earpiece.”
In September 2020, the Trump campaign claimed that former Vice President Joe Biden had refused to agree to a pre-debate inspection for electronic earpieces, as we wrote then. Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, reportedly called the claim “absurd” and said, “Of course, he is not wearing an earpiece.”
After the debate on Sept. 29, 2020, social media posts made baseless claims that images of Biden showed he was “wearing a wire” to an earpiece. As we wrote, higher-quality video of the debate showed that what had been described as a “wire” on the posts was just a crease in Biden’s shirt.
The New York Times wrote in 2020 about what it called “The Long History of ‘Hidden Earpiece’ Conspiracy Theories.” The report described unfounded claims that tend to recur every election cycle about hidden electronic devices used by presidential candidates, dating to 2000 when conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh said Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore used an earpiece to receive coaching on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in 2000.
The Harris campaign declined to comment on the claim that the vice president wore earrings equipped with an audio device at the Sept. 10 debate.
Some social media users have responded to the unfounded claims about Harris’ earrings. In the community notes to a Sept. 10 post on X, a reader wrote, “Rumors are unfounded, Harris wore earrings by Tiffany & Co. that she has worn many times before,” not Nova H1 Audio Earrings.
In addition, the website “What Kamala Wore,” which covers Harris’ “fashion and style choices,” said on Sept. 11 that the vice president wore “her South Sea Pearl Earrings from the Tiffany Hardwear collection” at the debate. The article shows photos of the earrings Harris wore at the debate, which have an open setting below the pearls, as opposed to the design of the Nova H1 audio earrings as shown on the website of the company that makes the product.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
Fichera, Angelo. “No Evidence Biden Was ‘Wearing a Wire’ in Debate.” FactCheck.org. 30 Sep 2020.
Fichera, Angelo, and Saranac Hale Spencer. “Baseless Online Claims Target Biden Ahead of First Debate.” FactCheck.org. Updated 1 Oct 2020.
Hauari, Gabe. “Rules for tonight’s presidential debate on ABC: What to know about mics, audience, more.” 10 Sep 2024.
Jacobson, Louis. “Claims that Hillary Clinton wore earpiece at debate don’t hold up.” PolitiFact. 28 Sep 2016.
Kelley, Susan. “Vice President Harris in Familiar Styles for Debate.” What Kamala Wore. 11 Sep 2024.
Kiely, Eugene, et al. “FactChecking the Harris-Trump Debate.” FactCheck.org. 11 Sep 2024.
Link, Devon. “Fact check: Allegations that Joe Biden wore an earpiece at town hall, debate are false.” USA Today. Updated 30 Sep 2020.
Rivera, Madeleine (@madeleinerivera). “Biden Deputy Campaign Manager @KBeds responded to this during a debate preview call today: ‘It is completely absurd. Of course, he is not wearing an earpiece, and we never asked for breaks.’” Twitter. 29 Sep 2020.
Roose, Kevin. “The Long History of ‘Hidden Earpiece’ Conspiracy Theories.” New York Times. 29 Sep 2020.