Photos of 17 real European women were allegedly stolen to promote Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, on the X-rated platform, reveals a survey conducted by CNN in collaboration with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR).
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These fake accounts are among 56 X-rated profiles identified by CNN and CIR using both digital forensics techniques and reverse image search tools.
The profiles appear to be part of a coordinated campaign to support the Trump-Vance duo in November’s presidential election, according to CNN.
The media outlet specifies, however, that there is no indication that Donald Trump’s campaign team is involved.
“What the f**k”
One of the women whose digital photos were stolen and used in a fake profile is a German woman named Debbie Nederlof, CNN’s investigation reveals.
Her photos are notably published on the @Luna_2K24 account.
On July 29, a bikini selfie of the 32-year-old was used in a publication.
“Would you support Trump to be president forever? I wonder if you all support Trump for president like I do,” read the post, which has been viewed by about 54,000 people, according to CNN.
The American News Network contacted the real Debbie Nederlof to ask her about the posts.
The single mother, who is an optician by training and works two jobs, said she was “angry” and “frustrated” that her image was being used in pro-Trump propaganda on X.
“To be honest, my reaction was ‘what the f**k?'” she told CNN. “That was my reaction because I have nothing to do with the United States, with Trump and the political things that are happening there. What would I, from my little place in Germany, have to be interested in American politics?”
The tip of the iceberg
Experts consulted by CNN and the CIR believe that these false profiles discovered as part of this investigation are only the tip of the iceberg.
Analysis of 56 pro-Trump accounts shows “a systematic pattern of inauthentic behavior,” CNN reports.
The American media outlet found that all the accounts use photos of beautiful young women, some real while others are generated by artificial intelligence, who declare their support for Donald Trump using hashtags such as #MAGAPatriots, #MAGA2024 and #IFBAP (I Follow Back All Patriots),
CNN and CIR also found that the images were often altered to add pro-Trump or MAGA (Make America Great Again) slogans to pieces of clothing that were originally plain.
The posts from these accounts are also all similar, often include English errors, and repost each other.
The American media also reports that experts suggest that these English errors could be a sign of foreign interference.
The journalists who conducted the survey also found that most of the profiles had been created in the last few months and that their number of subscribers had grown rapidly.
All profiles are located in the United States and 15 of the fake accounts discovered by CNN have blue markers, an element that normally indicates that the account has been verified.
CNN reached out to X to ask about these accounts but did not receive a response.
However, the media outlet indicates that in the 24 hours before the publication of the investigation, X deleted the majority of the accounts that had been discovered by the journalists.
The American media also contacted all the “real” European women whose photos were stolen and managed to interview four of them.
