Former President Donald Trump has posted a fake social media photo of pop superstar Taylor Swift urging people to vote for him in the November election. File | Photo credit: Reuters
Former President Donald Trump has posted a fake social media photo of pop superstar Taylor Swift urging people to vote for him in the November election.
The post, posted by the Republican candidate on Truth Social on Sunday, showed Swift wearing a red, white and blue outfit with the caption, “Taylor Swift wants you to vote for Donald Trump.”
Trump wrote, “I accept!”
Swift has not publicly endorsed any candidate in the 2024 race but has supported Democrats in the past.
Also read: Dealing with deepfakes
The singer endorsed President Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris in 2020. Harris is set to be formally nominated as the 2024 Democratic nominee at the party’s national convention in Chicago this week. She also criticized Trump in a 2020 documentary.
Spokespeople for Swift and Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump also posted photos of young women wearing “Swifties for Trump” shirts, and a satirical article titled “Swifties turn on Trump after ISIS crashes Taylor Swift concert.” The article was marked “satire” above the headline.
Swift canceled three of her shows in Vienna this month after authorities said they had foiled the planned attack. Local authorities arrested a 19-year-old man they said was inspired by Islamic State.
Several Swift fans and watchdog groups said several photos posted by Trump appeared to be deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence.
Advocates in the music industry, Hollywood and Washington are pushing for federal legislation and other measures to fight the explosion of fake AI images online.
Consumer group Public Citizen said Trump’s post was “yet another example of AI’s power to generate misinformation.”
“The potential harm to our society from such misinformation, including abuse of our elections, is widespread and extremely damaging,” the group said.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Swift fan Rebecca Goff handed out friendship bracelets at the Nevada Democratic Party breakfast, a common practice among the singer’s fans.
Gauff, 39, said she thinks Trump is the opposite of Swift’s views, which include celebrating girlhood and womanhood. “It’s the opposite of what Trump and the GOP are trying to do, especially to women. They’re trying to make us smaller. They want us to go back to just being housewives and having babies,” Gauff said.