Fake pro-Trump X accounts using stolen photos of European influencers: Research

At least 17 social media accounts posing as supporters of former President Trump shared posts using stolen photos of European women, new research shows.

Working with CNN, the London-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) found accounts posing as young, pro-Trump American women are using unsolicited photos of European fashion and beauty influencers.

Luna, a self-described 32-year-old “MAGA Trump supporter” from Wisconsin, gained a large following on social platform X. In her posts, she praises Trump’s presidential bid and has promoted conspiracy theories about his Democratic opponent, Vice President Harris, CNN reported.

The organizations found that the photos of Luna actually depict Debbie Nederlof, a German fashion influencer who has no ties to U.S. politics. They found 16 other social media accounts doing the same thing.

“Analysis of these accounts reveals a pattern of inauthentic behaviour: they use stolen photos manipulated to include Trump and MAGA slogans on items of clothing — or in some cases, images that appear to be AI-generated — and use some hashtags and similar posts which often include English language errors,” CIR said in its research.

These accounts have heralded Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), while criticizing the Biden-Harris administration. They also post about divisive issues “to exploit pre-existing tensions,” including commenting on LGBTQ rights and continued Ukraine aid, the report said.

Sometimes the users also spread conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and some of the posts have generated “tens – and sometimes hundreds – of thousands of views,” per the center.

Researchers also noted that it is unclear who is behind the accounts, or if they are true supporters of the former president or merely pushing the content out for monetary gain.

Most of the accounts reviewed in the report have a blue check mark, meaning they have subscribed for a premium X account — a perk once reserved for verifiable public figures. When tech mogul Elon Musk purchased the company, then called Twitter, in 2022, he announced that anyone who has a name, profile picture, confirmed phone number and active payment subscription, could be verified on the platform.

The company does, however, require that verified accounts have “no signs of being misleading or deceptive.” The report said since it found the 17 accounts, the company’s standards have “clearly failed.”

The research follows an earlier analysis from this year that found fake accounts on X posting about the U.S. presidential election to be spreading across the platform. It found that 15 percent of the accounts praising Trump and criticizing President Biden were inauthentic.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign and X for comment.