The American media CNN has identified 56 fake profiles on social networks in support of Donald Trump’s campaign, but the phenomenon could be much more significant, according to a professor of political communication.
• Also read: Photos of European influencers used for pro-Trump propaganda on fake X accounts
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Vincent Raynauld points out in an interview with LCN. “What is very interesting is that the organizations responsible for these social media have a hard time filtering fake accounts from real accounts. There is an impressive number of accounts that are created every day.”
The professor of political communication at Emerson College in Boston believes that there are two hypotheses that could justify the increase in fake profiles in favor of Donald Trump.
“There is a lot of incentive for many countries to interfere in the U.S. election by trying to change the conversation,” he says. “There are studies that have shown that China and other countries like Iran and Russia have tried to change the political conversation in the United States.”
“We have also seen recently that there is an economic dimension that is emerging,” he added. “Economic players have financial interests in creating these accounts. (…) They can make a little money.”
Several fake profiles are of young women of good appearance. The social network X, owned by Elon Musk, could also favor Donald Trump.
“I really believe that if we did a more in-depth study, we would see that the phenomenon is very present on the X platform and on other social networks,” concludes Vincent Raynauld.
Watch the full interview above.
