According to the "Global Times" report on August 20, citing Fox News, the US Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump released a group photo with American pop singer Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift) on August 18, local time. The images, some generated using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, show his campaign has the support of Swift and her fans.
Trump posted that he accepted the support of "Taylor Swift" and her fans
One of the pictures showed Swift dressed as Uncle Sam, with the caption "Swift hopes you vote for Donald Trump", Other images showed Swift fans wearing "swifties for trump" T-shirts. Trump posted this set of pictures with the caption: "I accept it." Two of the pictures were taken at Trump's rally in Racine, Wisconsin, in June, and the rest were processed by AI.
Swift fans, also known as "Swifties" (Swifties), have a political influence in this round of US elections that cannot be underestimated. According to reports, a large group of Swift fans formed a community called "swifties for kamala" immediately after current Vice President Kamala Harris became the presidential candidate. The organization mobilized netizens on the social platform x to help Harris and other Democratic candidates be elected. Currently, the community has more than 60,000 followers on x. Related information from
shows that the official organization of "swifties for trump" does not currently exist, but Swift does have some conservative fans who support Trump. They retweeted relevant tweets after Trump posted the fake images and expressed their support for Trump on their respective social platform accounts.
Swift publicly came out to support Biden and Harris during the 2020 US election, and criticized Trump's "white supremacy" and anti-immigration policies in a public statement.
As a popular global superstar, Swift has been troubled by AI deepfakes. At the beginning of this year, a large number of deepfake Swift pornographic images went viral on X, triggering a wave of public opinion condemning the potential harm of artificial intelligence deepfake images.
According to technology media techcrunch, Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, where Swift's company is located, signed the "Elvis Act" in March this year to prevent artificial intelligence deep forgery. The bill clearly stipulates to protect artists from unauthorized artificial intelligence's imitation of its work. However, the bill currently focuses on AI-generated deepfake audio rather than images.
Some Swift fans are outraged by Trump's actions, saying he should be prosecuted. However, according to the "Business Insider" website, as of August 19, Swift and her team had not responded to the matter. An analysis article on the website on the 20th pointed out that some legal experts believe that Swift can indeed sue Trump, including filing a federal lawsuit on the grounds of trademark infringement and false advertising. However, because there is currently little precedent for artificial intelligence deepfake images, experts believe that Swift’s chances of winning the case are slim.
Related reports show that Trump recently posted a series of deep fake artificial intelligence images on his social platform. Research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a British non-profit organization focused on online extremism, shows that the amount of AI-generated disinformation has grown by an average of 130% per month over the past year.
