US presidential candidate Donald Trump has posted a message on his social network Truth Social in which he shares four posts with images of Taylor Swift fans, known as “swifties”, and of the singer herself, asking for votes for the Republican. It’s false. Taylor Swift has not asked for a vote for Donald TrumpThe images shared by the candidate are generated by artificial intelligence, except for one of a supporter who has declared herself a supporter of the Republican Party.
“I do!” reads the message posted by Republican candidate Donald Trump in English Shared more than 3,000 times on the social network Truth Social since August 18. Along with the text, she spreads four posts with photographs. Three of them show different women wearing T-shirts that read “Swifties for Trump.” In the other, the American singer appears pointing in front of her with the message in English: “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.”
Three of the images Trump shares are fake
The first photo released by the former US president is made up of six photos showing several women wearing T-shirts reading “Swifties for Trump” in English. There is also a text superimposed on them in the same language that reads: “Swifties for Trump after ISIS disrupted Taylor Swift’s concert.” This photograph is not real.
X’s message spreading an AI-generated image of women wearing “Swifties for Trump” t-shirts VerificaRTVE
This image of Taylor Swift fans supporting Trump’s candidacy is a digital creation. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) notes that this snapshot is generated with “artificial intelligence“. The origin of this photograph is found in a profile of X whose author explains in response to another user who uses satire from time to time “to emphasize something or just to make people laugh.” The profile also points out that whenever he does this he marks the image with the word “satire” in two places: “in the graphic and in the alternative text.” At VerificaRTVE we have checked the alternative text of the image in X (ALT) and it effectively reports: “Satire. There is no Swifties For Trump movement – but there should be.” You can check it in the image below.
Screenshot of the alt text showing that the image is satire VerificaRTVE
Another image shared in Trump’s post shows a poster with the American flag in the background and singer Taylor Swift pointing her finger in front of it. The image reads in English: “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump,” simulating the classic poster of the Uncle Samthe personification of the United States, for recruit the population. It’s false.
X’s message spreading an AI-generated image of Taylor Swift VerificaRTVE
This photo of Taylor Swift asking her followers for the Republican vote was generated using artificial intelligence. At VerificaRTVE we have analyzed this snapshot with the tools for detecting content generated with artificial intelligence Hive y IVERES project from RTVE and both applications indicate that it is a fake image.
Fake image analysis in AI detection tools from the IVERES and Hive projects VerificaRTVE
In another of the posts posted by the Republican candidate, we see two young blonde women in the foreground. One of them is holding two coffees and the other is wearing a red T-shirt with the phrase “Swifties for Trump” printed on it in white. Behind them, there are many women with flags. It’s false. The image has been generated with AI.
AI-generated image of “Swifties for Trump” women and their mistakes VerificaRTVE
The photo does not show Taylor Swift fans supporting Trump, it is an artificial intelligence creation. Some of the elements that allow us to confirm that this is an artificially altered image are, for example, the sunglasses worn by all the women and the flags that simulate the American flag but are not well represented. In addition, the effect of smooth skin without any texture is observed, a characteristic component of images created with artificial intelligence. Another detail is the bag of the woman on the right, which seems unfinished. We have also analyzed this image with AI detection tools. Hive y IVERES project from RTVE and we found that This is a fake snapshot.
Fake image analysis in AI detection tools from the IVERES and Hive projects VerificaRTVE
This image of a Taylor Swift fan supporting Trump is real
Donald Trump also shares the photograph of a young woman wearing a white T-shirt on which we read in English “Swifties for Trump”. According to the European Broadcasting Union investigation (EBU) is a “buzzing Real woman wearing a pro-Trump t-shirt“. As reported, it is called “Jenna Piwowarczyk“. You can see it in this video showing the shirt and explaining that his photo has gone viral on X.
Taylor Swift declared herself a Democrat in 2020
Regarding the political stance of American artist Taylor Swift, during the 2020 US presidential election, Swift wrote a message in X in October revealing his voto a Joe Biden: “I spoke to V Magazine about why I’m voting for Joe Biden for president. Very fitting that it came out on the night of the vice presidential debate. I’m going to be watching and supporting Kamala Harris by yelling at the TV a lot.” About Trump, in May of that same year the artist told him mentioned in a message from X in these terms: “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism throughout his presidency, he has the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?” The post ends thus: “We will expel you in November“, referring to the upcoming elections.
AI in the US election campaign
Artificial intelligence is playing a crucial role in the 2024 US election campaign. At VerificaRTVE we already told you that on social media, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has been accused of using AI-created content to simulate larger audiences at her rallies. This wave of disinformation consists of two strands: on the one hand, photographs generated with artificial intelligence shared along with false messages claiming that they were distributed by the Democratic candidate’s team. On the other hand, there are real images published on social media by members of the Democratic Party alongside posts that They falsely claim to be generated by artificial intelligence.
