Exclusive review by disinformation firm Cyabra identifies more than 18,000 suspected fake accounts boosting the rapper’s pro-Trump posts, raising fresh concerns about political manipulation in celebrity-driven discourse.
The report, compiled by disinformation detection firm Cyabra, identified more than 18,000 accounts on X that it says exhibited coordinated inauthentic behavior while promoting Minaj’s political posts between Nov. 11 and Dec. 28. Cyabra estimates it is approximately 85 percent confident that the accounts are fake — a figure that could climb higher under stricter analytical thresholds.
The findings raise broader questions about how bot networks, long associated with election interference and geopolitical conflicts, may now be influencing the intersection of celebrity culture and American politics.
A Celebrity at the Center of a Digital Surge
Over the past year, Minaj has pivoted sharply into conservative activism, criticizing Democratic leaders, including Gavin Newsom, praising Trump administration policies, and appearing at Turning Point USA events, including its AmericaFest convention.
Her political alignment culminated in a public appearance at a Trump-hosted summit, where the former and current president praised the rapper and recorded social media content alongside her.
Cyabra’s report suggests that behind the scenes, an orchestrated digital network helped propel Minaj’s posts into wider algorithmic circulation. On Dec. 26 alone, fake profiles accounted for 56 percent of comments on certain political posts, according to the analysis.
“Supportive comments generated by fake profiles were predominantly brief, repetitive, and low in semantic complexity,” the report stated, describing patterns of synchronized posting and highly similar phrasing.
Dan Brahmy, Cyabra’s CEO, said the scale and duration of the activity stood out.
“We don’t really see a lot of high-volume, high-impact orchestration at the intersection of geopolitics and music culture,” Brahmy said. “It’s rare to see entertainment figures at the center of this level of sustained bot-driven amplification.”
Algorithmic Amplification and Toxicity
The report also found that “toxic” engagement — posts featuring personal attacks, inflammatory rhetoric, or hostile language — appeared to generate even greater algorithmic reach. Researchers note that engagement-driven algorithms often reward high interaction volume regardless of sentiment.
“You can expand your reach beyond your follower base if you get high levels of interaction,” she said. “Interaction bots help signal to algorithms that content is engaging and worth spreading.”
Cyabra said the suspected bot accounts exhibited temporal synchronization, linguistic uniformity, and demographic inconsistencies typical of coordinated campaigns. Roughly one-third of the evaluated profiles interacting with Minaj’s political posts were deemed inauthentic — a ratio more commonly associated with elections or wartime information campaigns.
Political Strategy and Cultural Influence
Minaj’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Alex Bruesewitz, a political adviser to Trump and a public supporter of the rapper, denied any use of bots, saying her online following is organic and vast.
Meanwhile, Newsom’s office responded with a sharply worded statement criticizing Minaj’s rhetoric.
The episode underscores a broader strategic trend: the Republican Party’s increasing outreach to younger, racially diverse audiences through high-profile cultural figures. Trump made measurable gains among Black and Hispanic voters in the 2024 election, and allies have sought to solidify that coalition.
Joel Penney, a professor at Montclair State University who studies politics and popular culture, said celebrity advocacy can shape narratives even without direct coordination.
“They don’t have the power to flip every fan into a political supporter,” Penney said. “But it matters. It contributes to the broader battle for public opinion playing out online.”
A New Frontier in Digital Influence
Bot networks first entered mainstream awareness during investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Since then, detection efforts have intensified around wars, elections, and global flashpoints.
Cyabra’s findings suggest that similar digital infrastructure may now be deployed — or at least active — within celebrity-driven political discourse.
Whether the bot activity was commissioned, opportunistic, or entirely independent remains unclear. The report was commissioned by an individual who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation.
What is clear, analysts say, is that the fusion of pop culture and partisan politics is increasingly mediated by algorithms — and potentially manipulated by actors operating far outside the public spotlight.
#NickiMinaj🎤, #Trump2026, #BotNetwork🤖, #SocialMedia, #MAGA, #Politics, #DigitalInfluence, #Disinformation, #TechNews📱, #TELLITLIKEITISNews,
======
-- By Lakisha Brown
© Copyright 2026 JWT Communications. All rights reserved. This article cannot be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten, or distributed in any form without written permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment