- Oct 17, 2011
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“Would You Support Trump Being The President forever? I wonder if you all support Trump for president just like me,” @Luna_2K24 posted on July 29, sharing a beach selfie in a white bikini and asking her followers to respond with an American flag emoji if they agreed. The post was viewed by around 54,000 people.
But Luna isn’t real. The photos of the smiling brunette posted periodically on @Luna_2K24’s timeline are of Debbie Nederlof, a German fashion influencer who lives across the Atlantic and won’t be voting in the US presidential election in November.
Nederlof is one of 17 real European women — fashion and beauty influencers from the Netherlands, Denmark and as far away as Russia — whose online photos have been stolen by unknown actors to promote Trump and his pick as running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, on X, a CNN investigation in collaboration with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) has found.
The fake accounts are among 56 profiles on X identified by CNN and CIR, using a mixture of digital sleuthing and reverse image search tools, as appearing to be part of a coordinated campaign backing the Trump-Vance ticket ahead of the 2024 presidential election. There’s no indication that the Trump campaign is involved.
The accounts also post similar messages, which often include English language errors (a potential sign of foreign interference, according to experts), and sometimes repost each other. Most have been created in the last few months and have seen their follower count grow rapidly; all give their location as being in the United States. Fifteen of the fake accounts have blue check marks – supposed to indicate that they have been verified – and eight of those have been identified as using stolen images.
But Luna isn’t real. The photos of the smiling brunette posted periodically on @Luna_2K24’s timeline are of Debbie Nederlof, a German fashion influencer who lives across the Atlantic and won’t be voting in the US presidential election in November.
Nederlof is one of 17 real European women — fashion and beauty influencers from the Netherlands, Denmark and as far away as Russia — whose online photos have been stolen by unknown actors to promote Trump and his pick as running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, on X, a CNN investigation in collaboration with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) has found.
The fake accounts are among 56 profiles on X identified by CNN and CIR, using a mixture of digital sleuthing and reverse image search tools, as appearing to be part of a coordinated campaign backing the Trump-Vance ticket ahead of the 2024 presidential election. There’s no indication that the Trump campaign is involved.
The accounts also post similar messages, which often include English language errors (a potential sign of foreign interference, according to experts), and sometimes repost each other. Most have been created in the last few months and have seen their follower count grow rapidly; all give their location as being in the United States. Fifteen of the fake accounts have blue check marks – supposed to indicate that they have been verified – and eight of those have been identified as using stolen images.
