Donald Trump has shared doctored images on social media showing Taylor Swift and her fans supporting his campaign for the US presidency, in an apparent effort to tap into the pop singer's megastar power in the US election.
She has not publicly thrown her weight behind any presidential candidate in the 5 November vote, but she backed President Joe Biden in 2020 and has previously been critical of Mr Trump.
He shared screenshots of posts with manipulated images - including some that an expert said appeared to be AI-generated - suggesting that Taylor Swift and her fans, popularly known as Swifties, support his campaign.
In his Truth Social post, which includes a poster of the singer in an Uncle Sam outfit and instructing her fans to vote for Mr Trump, the former president wrote: "I accept!"
The poster is either "AI generated or just classically manipulated," Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley, said.
The post also includes photos of women wearing shirts with the slogan "Swifties for Trump," some of which Mr Farid said had the "tell-tale signs of being AI generated."
What makes the mash-up "particularly devious" is that is a combination of real and fake imagery, with at least one photo of a woman wearing such a shirt looking legitimate, he added.
There was no immediate comment from Ms Swift about the post by Mr Trump, who separately shared on Truth Social a video of a supporter voicing the dubious claim that "Swifties were rallying for Trump".
Her soaring popularity and sway over her fans could make her support valuable in the upcoming election.
Both Republicans and Democrats have long wanted to count on her support, but the megastar has been largely reticent about her political leanings.
In a demonstration of her star power, when Ms Swift encouraged her fans to register to vote last autumn, directing them to the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org, her plea had an immediate impact.
Following the message, the institution said it recorded over 35,000 new registrations, 23% more than last year, and the most since 2020.
Ms Swift's feelers into politics have been heavily scrutinised, making her a ripe target for political misinformation and right-wing conspiracy theories.
Her reserve led many critics to speculate that she was a closet Republican, until 2018, when she broke both her silence and the internet by endorsing the Democratic opponent of far-right US Senator Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee.
She has since spoken out in particular for the legal right to an abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.
In recent weeks, intense speculation has swirled on social media that Ms Swift will endorse Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the November election.
She has not commented publicly, but that has not stopped legions of fans to form a group called "Swifties for Kamala," attracting tens of thousands of followers on platforms such as Instagram and X.
