False Claims Surface about Taylor Swift AI Deepfakes on X Alleging Support for Trump
Even with the recent media buzz surrounding pop star Taylor Swift, she has not publicly endorsed a candidate for the 2024 White House. However, AI deepfakes and their creators are attempting to deceive social media users into believing that she has publicly supported former President Donald Trump, the leading GOP nominee for president.
Posts on X have shown significant engagement with the deepfakes on the platform. Recently, X restored the searchability for Swift on the social site after blocking searches to address a previous problem involving fake images.
This time, the inauthentic altered media appears to be attempting to influence which presidential nominee is favored online, and possibly by Swift fans. Given Swift’s influence over pop culture, this poses a real concern in attempting to control misinformation.
While it’s unclear who Swift supports in this election, she publicly endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020 in an interview with V Magazine. She believed this would begin the nation’s “healing process.”
This week, Politico highlighted a new Marquette Law School poll in Wisconsin, showing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley leading President Joe Biden by 15 percentage points among likely voters polled. The poll also showed former President Trump tied with President Biden.
“If you will stay with us in this fight, I’m not going anywhere!” Haley told a crowd in California this week.
Haley, the last remaining major rival to former President Trump, was defeated in Nevada’s primary on Tuesday as more voters chose the “none of these candidates” ballot option. On Thursday night, Decision Desk HQ and Scripps News projected former President Trump would win Nevada’s Republican caucuses and secure at least 24 of the 26 delegates up for grabs.