Former President Donald Trump posted a fake image on social media of pop superstar Taylor Swift asking people to vote for him in the November election.
A Sunday post by the Republican candidate on Truth Social showed Swift dressed in red, white and blue with a caption that read, “Taylor Swift wants you to vote for Donald Trump.”
“I do!” Trump wrote.
Swift has not publicly endorsed any candidate in the 2024 race, but has supported Democrats.
The singer endorsed President Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, in 2020. Harris will be formally nominated as the Democratic candidate for 2024 at the party's national convention in Chicago this week. She also criticized Trump in a 2020 documentary.
Spokespeople for Swift and Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump also posted photos of young women wearing T-shirts reading “Swifties for Trump” and a satirical article with the headline “Swifties turn on Trump after ISIS thwarts Taylor Swift concert.” The article was marked “SATIRE” above the headline.
Swift canceled three concerts in Vienna this month after authorities said they had foiled a planned attack. Local authorities arrested a 19-year-old man they said was inspired by Islamic State.
Several Swift fans and watchdog groups said many of the images posted by Trump appeared to be deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence.
Advocates for the music industry, Hollywood and Washington have been pushing for federal legislation and other measures to combat the explosion of AI-powered fake images online.
Trump's post was “another example of the power of AI to create misinformation,” Public Citizen said.
“The potential harms to our society that could result from such misinformation, including abuses of our elections, are wide-reaching and immensely damaging,” the group added.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Swift fan Rebecca Goff handed out friendship bracelets, a common practice among the singer's fans, at a Democratic Party breakfast in Nevada.
Goff, 39, said she felt Trump was the antithesis of what she believes Swift stands for, including celebrating girlhood and femininity.
“That's like the antithesis of what Trump and the Republican Party are trying to do, especially with women. They're trying to make us smaller. They want us to go back to just being housewives, mothers of children,” Goff said.
