After Donald Trump posted AI-generated images on social media falsely suggesting Taylor Swift had endorsed him, can the superstar take legal action against the Republican presidential candidate?
Posted on Sunday (August 18) to her account on her own platform Truth Social, several of the photos showed women wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Swifties for Trump” emblazoned across the front.
But the most prominent image featured Taylor Swift herself, dressed as Uncle Sam in the style of a World War II recruiting poster, with a clear message: “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” At the top of the post, Trump himself replied: “I Accept!”
The images quickly sparked outrage among fans of the superstar singer, who has long been an outspoken critic of Trump. While she has yet to endorse any candidate in 2024, she did support Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, in 2020, and criticized Trump for “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism” and urged her legions of supporters to vote him out of office.
As the explosive growth of artificial intelligence tools has made it easier to convincingly imitate real people, lawmakers have rushed to pass a federal law called NO FAKES, currently being debated in Congress, that would make it illegal to publish a “digital replica” of someone’s image without their consent, including their voice or likeness.
