New Hampshire Senate Republicans ran Meta ads with an AI-altered image of Black state Senate candidate Leonard Bell amid cash and gold chains, outlet reports
Granite Post reported on 5 October 2026 that the New Hampshire Senate Republicans paid Meta to show Facebook and Instagram users an image of Leonard Bell, the Democratic candidate for state Senate District 18 and the only Black candidate for state Senate in New Hampshire this year, laughing in a leather armchair buried in cash and wearing gold chains, a large ring and a watch. According to the outlet, Meta labelled the ad "Digitally created" and its detail page states that the media was created or edited with AI; Bell’s face appears to have been taken from a family snapshot. Bell told the outlet that everything in the image is false other than his face. Citing Meta’s Ad Library, the outlet says three ads from 7 September put the image on New Hampshire screens 39,000 to 50,000 times. The outlet describes the image as a racial stereotype, and a Democratic co-sponsor of New Hampshire’s 2024 deepfake law called it a racist caricature. The Senate Republicans did not respond to questions.
- AI system
- Unidentified image tool
- Occurred
- 7 Sept 2026
- Reported
- 5 October 2026
- Event location
- United States
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Reputational Harm
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Public life · Elections
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 7 claims: 7 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- At least 1 person
AI system as recorded: An AI-altered photorealistic image built around the candidate’s real face, disclosed in Meta’s ad label as created or edited with AI, per Granite Post (tool not named)
What Happened
The ads. Granite Post (Colin Booth, 5 October 2026), citing Meta’s Ad Library, reports that the New Hampshire Senate Republicans ran three Facebook and Instagram ads using one image of Leonard Bell, the Democratic candidate for state Senate in District 18 (Manchester wards 5 to 9 and Litchfield). The first ran from 7 to 12 September, the second from 14 September, and the third from 21 September and was still running on 2 October. Together they put the image on New Hampshire screens between 39,000 and 50,000 times at a cost of $1,100 to $1,400. The ad text asks about Bell’s plan for taxpayers and links to a site paid for by the Senate Republicans.
The image. The image shows Bell laughing in a leather armchair, buried to the shoulders in cash, with gold chains, an oversized ring and a watch. Meta labelled the ad "Digitally created", and its detail page states: "Media in this ad created or edited with AI." Under Meta’s political-ad rules that label means the advertiser disclosed a photorealistic image made or changed with AI. The outlet says Bell’s face appears to have been lifted from a family snapshot, cut out, turned black-and-white and dropped into a constructed scene. Bell told the outlet that everything in it is false other than his face, and that the chains, ring, plaid suit and even the glasses are not his.
Criticism. Bell is the only Black candidate for state Senate in New Hampshire this year. The outlet describes the image as visual shorthand long used to portray a Black man as flashy and dangerous. It reports that matching ads launched against three other Democratic candidates, two of whom it describes as white women, showed them mid-laugh surrounded by cash, with dangling earrings and, in one case, a fur collar. State Sen. Donovan Fenton, a Democratic co-sponsor of New Hampshire’s 2024 deepfake law, called the ad a racist caricature. The outlet notes that the law bars distributing a deepfake of a candidate within 90 days of an election unless a prescribed disclaimer is printed on the image, and that it exempts satire and parody; whether the ad violates it has not been tested.
Limits. One outlet describes the Ad Library entries, and they were not inspected directly. Granite Post belongs to the COURIER network, which describes its newsrooms as practising independent, point-of-view journalism. The Senate Republicans did not answer questions about the tool or prompt, and Bell’s opponent did not respond.
Reported harm
A state Senate candidate was shown in paid political ads in an image that the ad’s disclosure says was created or edited with AI, built around his real face and surrounded by cash and gold chains; he says everything in it but his face is false, and the outlet and a Democratic state senator call it a racial stereotype.
Outcome
OngoingGranite Post reported on 5 October 2026 that the third ad was still running on 2 October. No complaint to the attorney general or court filing is reported. The Senate Republicans and Sen. Victoria Sullivan did not respond by publication.
What remains unknown
- Which AI tool was used and what prompt; the advertiser did not answer.
- Whether a complaint has been filed with the New Hampshire attorney general or a court under the 2024 deepfake law.
- Whether the ads remain active after 2 October 2026.
- Any response from the New Hampshire Senate Republicans or from Bell’s opponent.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. Granite Post reports that Meta labelled the ad "Digitally created" and that the ad’s detail page states its media was created or edited with AI, which under Meta’s rules means the advertiser disclosed a photorealistic image made or changed with AI. The outlet describes what that image shows: Bell’s real face placed into a constructed scene with cash, gold chains, a ring, a watch, a plaid suit and a leather chair that are not his. That generated depiction of Bell is the material his statements and the stereotype criticism concern. No tool is named, and the advertiser did not answer questions about the tool or prompt.
7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The New Hampshire Senate Republicans paid Meta to show Facebook and Instagram users an AI-altered image of Democratic state Senate candidate Leonard Bell laughing in front of piles of cash and wearing gold chains.
Causal attribution. Granite Post, citing Meta’s Ad Library.
- granitepostnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'The New Hampshire Senate Republicans paid to show Facebook and Instagram users an AI-altered image of Democratic state Senate candidate Leonard Bell laughing in front of piles of cash and wearing gold chains'
Reported According to Granite Post, Meta labelled the ad "Digitally created" and the ad’s detail page states that its media was created or edited with AI, a label that under Meta’s political-ad rules means the advertiser disclosed a photorealistic image made or changed with AI.
Causal attribution. Granite Post’s description of Meta’s label and ad detail page; the Ad Library page was not inspected directly. No tool is named, and the Senate Republicans did not answer questions about the tool or prompt.
- granitepostnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Under Meta’s rules for political ads, that label means the advertiser told Meta the ad includes a photorealistic image made or changed with artificial intelligence (AI).'; 'Media in this ad created or edited with AI.'
Reported Granite Post reports that Bell’s face appears to have been taken from a family snapshot, cut out, turned black-and-white and placed in a constructed scene, and that the gold chains, ring, watch, plaid suit and leather chair are not his.
Causal attribution. Granite Post’s description and Bell’s statements to the outlet.
- granitepostnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'The face appears to be lifted from a real photo: a family snapshot taken outdoors at sunset'; 'his face has been cut out, turned black-and-white, and dropped into a scene built around it.'; 'None of what is depicted in the ad is real.'
Reported Bell told Granite Post that everything in the image is false other than his face and that the depiction of him is as false as false can get.
Causal attribution. Bell’s statements to Granite Post.
- granitepostnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Everything in that photo is false other than my face'; 'There are people that know me know that that depiction of me is as false as false can get.'
Reported The image ran in three Meta ads from 7 September 2026 and was still running on 2 October; together the ads put it on New Hampshire screens between 39,000 and 50,000 times at a cost of $1,100 to $1,400.
Causal attribution. Granite Post, citing Meta’s Ad Library; impressions are screen showings, not people.
- granitepostnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'the ad first ran from Sept. 7 through Sept. 12'; 'as of Oct. 2, when it was still running'; 'Taken together, the three ads have put the altered image on New Hampshire screens between 39,000 and 50,000 times, at a cost of $1,100 to $1,400.'
Reported Granite Post describes the image as using visual shorthand long used to portray a Black man as flashy and dangerous, and state Sen. Donovan Fenton, a Democratic co-sponsor of New Hampshire’s 2024 deepfake law, called it a racist caricature.
Causal attribution. The outlet’s analysis and a Democratic state senator’s statement; the Senate Republicans and Bell’s opponent did not respond by publication.
- granitepostnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'For decades, movies, television, and music videos have used similar visual shorthand for a Black man portrayed as flashy and dangerous'; 'Republicans are weaponizing this technology to make racist caricatures of proud veterans running for office in New Hampshire'
Reported The New Hampshire Senate Republicans did not respond to questions about the tools or prompt used to create the ad by the time of publication.
Causal attribution. Granite Post.
- granitepostnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Senate Republicans did not respond to questions about tools to create the ad or the prompt used to create it by time of publication.'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Granite Post, 5 October 2026: NH Republicans used AI to turn a Black veteran’s family photo into a stereotype(opens in new tab)
s1 · granitepostnews.com · News report · English · Inspected · 5 October 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-06 (HTTP 200); no translation was involved and no human reviewer read the article. Granite Post, byline Colin Booth, published 5 October 2026; the outlet also ran the story under the headline "Is the NH Senate Republicans’ AI ad of Leonard Bell racist?". Granite Post’s about-us page (read on 2026-10-06) describes it as the 10th state-based newsroom of COURIER, a public benefit corporation owned by Good Information Inc., whose newsrooms practise independent, point-of-view journalism and which accepts no funding from any party, party committee, candidate or campaign. The Meta Ad Library entries it describes were not inspected directly. Applies to s1.
Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: Unknown.
The ads were bought by the New Hampshire Senate Republicans about a candidate for the New Hampshire state Senate, and Granite Post, citing Meta’s Ad Library, says all impressions of the first ad were in New Hampshire. No court proceeding is reported.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-06: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): Granite Post reports that the New Hampshire Senate Republicans ran Meta ads with an image of state Senate candidate Leonard Bell that the ad’s own disclosure says was created or edited with AI, built around his real face and surrounded by cash and gold chains, and that Bell says everything in it but his face is false. The harm is reputational and is alleged; the racial-stereotype criticism is attributed to the outlet and a Democratic state senator. The account rests on one outlet’s reading of the Meta Ad Library.
People described
Leonard Bell, Democratic candidate for New Hampshire state Senate District 18, a Navy veteran and university educator (a public candidate, named in the report and here)
People reported harmed in this case
At least 1 person
0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed
One depicted person is reported harmed: Bell, who told Granite Post the image is false in every detail but his face. Three other Democratic candidates appear in matching AI-labelled ads, but the outlet reports no harm to or response from them, so they are not counted and the count is a lower bound. Impressions (39,000 to 50,000) are screen showings, not people. Documented minimum 1.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). New Hampshire Senate Republicans ran Meta ads with an AI-altered image of Black state Senate candidate Leonard Bell amid cash and gold chains, outlet reports. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-new-hampshire-senate-republicans-ai-altered-candidate-image-cash-gold-chains-meta-ads
BibTeX
@misc{2026_new_hampshire_senate_republicans_ai_altered_candidate_image_cash_gold_chains_meta_ads,
title = {New Hampshire Senate Republicans ran Meta ads with an AI-altered image of Black state Senate candidate Leonard Bell amid cash and gold chains, outlet reports},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-new-hampshire-senate-republicans-ai-altered-candidate-image-cash-gold-chains-meta-ads}
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