They saw their image become an instrument of disinformation by unknown perpetrators in favor of the Republican candidate – Not only do they not know who did it, but they have a hard time finding the right one
It's an influencer, it has a large and fanatical audience, it has a blue tick, so it's a verified and (relatively) valid account, and speaks fanatically in favor of Trump.
Luna says she's 32, hails from Wisconsin, and is a MAGA (Make America Great Again) fanatic preached by former president—and re-candidate—Donald Trump. She frequently tweeted to her 30,000 anti-Kamala Harris and pro-Republican followers.
“Would you like Trump to be president forever?” she wrote on July 29, sharing a bikini photo with her audience. on the beach. Her audience is all patriots – that's what she calls them all the time.
But things are not as they seem. Luna was not a real person, writes CNN's major investigation into the fake influencers speaking fanatically in favor of Donald Trump, just before the final stretch for the election on November 5.
The Luna posing in the photos was actually German influencer Debbie Neterloff. The 32-year-old German works as a social media manager in a company and as a model to raise her son. Of course, she had no idea that her face had been used on the other side of the Atlantic in favor of Trump.
CNN's investigation showed that Neterlof is one of 17 women from European countries (Germany, Holland, Denmark , Russia) who unwittingly became influencers in favor of Trump and his vice president J. D. Vance.
The perpetrators of this organized attack, for which there are no indications that it is related to the official Trump campaign, remain unknown. They had at least 56 accounts on X for their work – possibly many more. Many of the accounts were taken down by X shortly before the CNN article was published.
The photos belonged to European influencers (all of whom are involved in fashion and beauty), but there were also photos created by artificial intelligence. In other cases slogans were added to the clothes worn by the women. Interestingly, many of the messages had errors in English, an indication (but not proof) that the operation was organized from abroad.
Neterlof told CNN that this is not the first time her images have been used without her permission, but never before for political reasons.
As Luna, she claimed that the US election was rigged, that Trump has been the target of assassination attempts while appearing to be anti-LGBTQ or anti-vaccine. As Debbie Netherlof, she can't get her justice from the social network against the theft of her image, but also her son and even her dog.
Debbie Neterloff
The victim of the orchestrated campaign is 27-year-old Demi Maric, who lives in Amsterdam. She was billed as Gabriela and @queen0_gabriela and wanted to support Robert Kennedy Jr., the former Democratic congressman who dropped out of the campaign and sided with Trump.
Maric, too, had been a victim of theft. of her image, in one case someone had even used it to steal money from a third party. But now as Gabriella she posed from a bed and told her audience 'If you're with Trump, I want to follow you.'
No matter what Gabriela's fans did, the fake accounts followed each other fanatically, reinforcing the message they wanted to send to the public.
All this eight years after 2016 and the huge debate about the influence of Russia in favor of Trump and while at X, after its acquisition by Elon Musk in 2022, controls against the spread of fake news and misleading content have weakened.
However, the question of who orchestrated remains open. the campaign.
Experts who spoke to CNN see indications that a third state (possibly Russia, China or Iran) is involved, but this cannot be confirmed.
The tactic however, “building” a persona of a young, attractive woman who posts fanatically is quite common in these disinformation campaigns. The target (and, in the process, the victim) is the young and disillusioned men who will listen to the message of the fake accounts. It remains to be seen how many got it and if they want to implement it.
