Trump campaign pushes Facebook ads promoting earpiece conspiracy with doctored image of Biden

Adviser fumes at reporter as campaign under fire for amplifying claims: ‘I don’t even know if it’s our ad’

Facebook ads from Donald Trump's campaign promote a conspiracy that Joe Biden would rely on an earpiece during their first debate. (Facebook)

Donald Trump’s campaign has published dozens of ads on Facebook and Instagram featuring doctored images showing Joe Biden wearing earbuds below a bar of text asking, “Who’s in Joe’s ear?"

The ads follow allegations that the Democratic presidential candidate would rely on an earpiece feeding him answers at the candidates’ first debate appearance, a conspiracy that was widely spread across social media and dismissed by the former vice president’s campaign in the days leading up to Tuesday’s event.

That day, the Trump campaign amplified the conspiracy, telling supporters that Mr Biden had “declined an earpiece inspection” before the debate.

Text on the ads, which began appearing on Facebook on Thursday, reads: “Joe's BEGGING for breaks during the debate! CHECK JOE'S EARS! He REFUSED drug test & DECLINED an earpiece inspection!"

Facebook did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

The claims follow a conspiracy playbook among Republican figures and right-wing media over the past two decades accusing Democratic candidates of relying on back-room aides during debates.

MSNBC anchor Ayman Mohyeldin pressed Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes about the ads on Thursday, but Mr Cortes accused Mr Mohyeldin of raising a “gotcha” question and added “I don’t even know if it’s our ad.”

“This is the first time I have seen that so I can’t comment on it,” Mr Cortes said. “Frankly, I’m not going to take your word for it and I’m not going to take MSNBC’s word for it."

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh claimed that Mr Biden’s “handlers” had agreed to a “pre-debate inspection for ”electronic earpieces" but “abruptly reversed themselves and declined” ahead of the debate.

The Biden campaign denied the claims, calling the allegations “completely absurd.”

His opponent’s campaigns continued to push the allegations, using the hashtag #CheckJoesEars throughout the debate.

In a post on Twitter that has been deleted, the campaign’s rapid response staffer Jake Schneider compared a button available for sale from the Biden campaign website featuring a pair of sunglasses added to the candidate, but haven’t seen any coverage about that.”

The latest efforts from the Trump campaign follow attempts to question the former vice president’s mental competency – including the president’s attorney Rudy Giuliani alleging without evidence that Mr Biden "has dementia" – while Mr Trump has routinely faced scrutiny throughout his time in office for the state of his health.

Mr Trump’s campaign also has released ads compiling his rival’s perceived gaffes or stutters, and his campaign’s social media accounts routinely mock the candidate.

A headline leading Fox News on Tuesday afternoon, shortly before the debate was due to start, read “Biden campaign rejects Trump's call for inspector to check candidates for listening devices at debate.”

Weeks earlier, the conspiracy was bubbling on social media and far-right message boards, including QAnon-related platforms, while prominent conspiracy theorists suggested that Mr Biden’s ears be checked before the debate in posts that were shared thousands of times.

Last week, more than 300 people shared a post, liked more than 1,000 times, from the page We Love President Donald J Trump that links to a story suggesting that "someone is helping" Mr Biden with an earpiece.

On 29 September, a reporter with The New York Post claimed that a “source familiar” with the campaign said that Mr Biden had agreed to an ear inspection but has now declined. She later reported that his campaign said that was false and had also denied claims that he had asked for “breaks” during the 90-minute debate.

Versions of the story from Breitbart and other right-wing Facebook pages were shared thousands of times on Tuesday.

The Trump campaign, facing accusations of promoting election-related misinfirmation, has been under fire for other ads on Facebook, including dozens that prominently featured a symbol used by the Nazis to identify political opponents. 

Those ads, which ran in June, were removed by the platform for violating the company’s policies "against organised hate.

“Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol," Facebook told The Independent at the time.

The company also removed a brief campaign video on Tuesday that linked refugee admission into the US with the spread of Covid-19.