Over the weekend, a fabricated message made to resemble a post from President Trump’s social media account circulated widely online, further muddying public discussions about his recent online activity. By Saturday, versions of the counterfeit post shared on X had collectively amassed at least 3.7 million views.

The false message appeared to offer an explanation for why Mr. Trump had removed a controversial video he posted earlier in the week. That original clip portrayed former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, sparking backlash for its racist imagery.

In the fabricated post, which surfaced late Friday night, Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that he deleted the video because it was disrespectful to animals rather than to the people depicted.

While many social media users recognized the post as fake, others took it at face value. Some conservative commentators even applauded what they believed to be Mr. Trump’s refusal to apologize. The individual who initially shared the forged message did not respond to requests for comment.

The rapid spread of the fake post was partly fueled by uncertainty over how the original racist video appeared on Mr. Trump’s account and why it was later taken down. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially dismissed criticism, describing the clip as part of a longer satirical video that humorously compared several Democrats to jungle animals. However, Mr. Trump later contradicted this explanation while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One.

He maintained that sharing the video was not a mistake but claimed he had not personally viewed the offensive segment before forwarding it to his staff for posting. He explained that he generally expects his team to review material in full before publishing, implying that someone failed to do so in this case.

This incident is part of a broader wave of misleading and manipulated content that has proliferated online in recent months. A network of right-wing influencers and meme creators has been producing a steady stream of artificial intelligence-generated images, videos, and satirical political material, some of which contains racist or sexist themes. These posts have attracted millions of views across social media platforms.

Mr. Trump has previously amplified similar content. In October, he shared an AI-generated video depicting himself flying a fighter jet and dropping waste on protesters below. The same creator was later linked to the offensive video featuring the Obamas.