Trump Supporters’ Photos Are Actually European Models—How Fake Accounts Misled Millions

Ahead of the U.S. election, fake X (formerly Twitter) accounts supporting former President Donald Trump have been using photos of young European female influencers.

In a joint digital investigation with the UK-based NGO Center for Information Resilience (CIR), they identified 56 fake X accounts supporting Trump and his vice-presidential candidate, Senator J.D. Vance.

These accounts featured photos of young, attractive women and commonly used hashtags like #MAGAPatriots, #MAGA2024, and #IFBAP (I Follow All Patriots).

One account, claiming to be a 32-year-old woman from Wisconsin named Luna, joined X in March and actively supported Trump as a passionate advocate of the “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” movement. Luna promoted conspiracy theories, including claims that Trump faced further assassination attempts. She shared a beach selfie in a white bikini with a caption asking, “Would You Support Trump Being The President forever?” Her X account (@Luna_2K24) has 30,000 followers.

However, Luna was not a real person. The photos used on the account belonged to Debbie Nederlof, a fashion influencer from Germany. Nederlof expressed outrage upon discovering the misuse of her photos, stating, “What is going on?” She emphasized that as a non-American, she had no reason to be portrayed as a Trump supporter on social media.

The issue extended beyond Nederlof. The fake accounts used images of 17 fashion and beauty influencers from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Russia. Some of these images were even created by artificial intelligence (AI).

CIR noted that “these accounts post content praising Trump and Vance while spreading distrust toward Biden and Harris. They also address divisive topics such as LGBTQ+ rights and military support for Ukraine.”

Affected women told CNN they were frustrated that social media companies did not act despite reporting the misuse. They found that over 12 fake accounts had verified blue checkmarks, indicating that the account owners’ identities had been confirmed.

X removed most problematic accounts within 24 hours before CNN’s article was published.

CNN reported no evidence linking Trump’s campaign to the situation. However, experts suggest that the proliferation of fake accounts might be just the tip of the iceberg. Some accounts displayed grammatical errors in English, which could point to foreign involvement.

Emily Horne, a former spokesperson for the White House National Security Council (NSC), commented, “This could be a state actor. The level of sophistication indicates it could be any of the hostile state actors, including Russia, Iran, and China.” “We know that there are multiple state actors who have been using social media to try and sow disinformation campaigns in the run-up to the 2024 election,” she added.