US presidential candidate Donald Trump has used fake images to win the support of Taylor Swift’s fans. On Sunday, the former president posted a manipulated poster on his platform Truth Social, allegedly showing the singer urging people to vote for Trump. So far, there has been no response from Swift or her team.
A post by the Republican candidate on Truth Social from Sunday showed Swift dressed in red, white, and blue with the caption “Taylor Swift Wants You To Vote For Donald Trump.” “I accept!” wrote Trump. Other evidently manipulated images showed women in T-shirts that read “Swifties for Trump.”
Images of Taylor Swift likely AI-generated
Some of the images have been created using Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to experts. The singer’s poster is either “AI-generated or simply classically manipulated,” said Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, to the AFP news agency. Trump’s post is “particularly sneaky,” he added, because at least one of the fan images actually looks real.
Swift has expressed political views in the past
Swift herself has not publicly backed Donald Trump or the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. However, in the past, she has repeatedly criticized Trump and campaigned for current US President Joe Biden before the 2020 presidential election. She also advocates for abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, where the English abbreviation LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.
Swifties actively support Kamala Harris
Harris is expected to be officially nominated as the candidate for 2024 at the Democratic Party convention in Chicago this week. In a documentary from 2020, Swift also criticized Trump. Although there has been no public endorsement from the singer yet, tens of thousands of her fans have already expressed support for the Democratic candidate. The “Swifties for Kamala” page has tens of thousands of subscribers on online services such as X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. Similar pages exist under the name “Swifties for Trump” – but with significantly fewer followers.
Swift had to cancel concerts in Vienna
Swift had to cancel three concerts in Vienna this month after authorities reported that they had thwarted a planned attack. Local officials arrested a 19-year-old man who is believed to have been inspired by the Islamic State.