Disinformation is already sinking its heavy hand into the 2024 election.
Several MAGA influencers with sizable followings have been revealed to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors. One account, @Luna_2K24, accrued nearly 30,000 followers by posting suggestive selfies, including one of a woman in a white bikini captioned “Would You Support Trump Being The President forever?”
But despite garnering the attention of some of the far right’s biggest bulldogs, including MAGA lobbyist Marty Irby, Luna isn’t real. Instead, the woman photographed is German fashion influencer Debbie Nederlof, who told CNN that she was shocked to find that her image was pushing pro-Trump propaganda.
“To be honest, ‘what the f**k?’ was my reaction. That was my reaction, because I have nothing to do with the United States. With Trump, the political things over there. What the hell do I—from a small place in Germany—care about U.S. politics?” Nederlof told CNN.
The X account, @Luna_2K24, was deleted by the time of publication.
At least 17 other European women—from the Netherlands to Russia—have had images of their faces and bodies stolen and artificially altered for use as digital assets to push pro-Trump messaging online, according to a CNN investigation in collaboration with the Centre for Information Resilience that assessed 56 MAGA accounts.
Many of the accounts reshare each others’ content with blatantly Trumpian hashtags, including #MAGAPatriots, #MAGA2024, and #IFBAP (I Follow Back All Patriots). The images they share feature beautiful young women with artificially altered clothing in order to make otherwise unbranded clothing sport Trump slogans. Some of the accounts’ captions also feature English language errors, which CNN reported could be indicative of “foreign interference.”
Trump himself has also been caught elevating fake images for the benefit of his campaign. Earlier this month, Trump posted a fabricated image of notoriously litigious pop star Taylor Swift clad in red, white, and blue, posing like Uncle Sam before an American flag emblazoned with the text: “Taylor wants YOU to vote for Donald Trump.”
“I accept!” Trump captioned the image.
Trump has also shared A.I.-generated content of himself and X owner Elon Musk dancing together.
When pressed on his apparent affinity for the doctored images, Trump brushed off any responsibility, telling Fox Business correspondent Gary Trimble that he simply “didn’t generate them.”
“Somebody came out. They said, ‘Oh look at this,’” Trump said after a campaign event in Asheboro, North Carolina. “These were all made up by other people. A.I. is always very dangerous in that way.”
