An analysis revealed that a coordinated online attack aimed to align Taylor Swift and her latest album, The life of a showgirl, with Nazi and far-right imagery and values, from narratives that purported to be critiques of the left and were designed to spark outrage.
AI-powered behavioral intelligence platform Gudea produced a report that examined more than 24,000 posts and 18,000 accounts across 14 social media platforms between October 4, the day the album was released, and October 18. These publications accused Swift of including secret references in her lyrics and alleged that a lightning bolt necklace from her merch line, a reference to the song Opalite from the album, it resembled the insignia of the SS.
The report found that 3.77% of accounts generated 28% of discussions about Swift during this period, primarily conspiracy theories that also made accusations about her alleged ties to the Maga movement and criticism calling her engagement with American football player Travis Kelce “mainstream” or conservative. Peaking between October 6 and 7, 35% of posts in the dataset came from bot accounts.
Gudea said that while they did not uncover the identities of those responsible, they found “significant overlap between stories promoting Swift’s ‘Nazi’ narrative and those participating in a separate contrived campaign attacking Blake Lively,” the actress involved in a sexual harassment lawsuit against actor and director Justin Baldoni, and who was once a close friend of Swift.
The data, according to Gudea, “reveals a network of amplification between events, disproportionately influencing multiple celebrity controversies and injecting misinformation into otherwise organic conversations.”
The accusations against Swift first spread in more niche online spaces, such as 4chan, and then migrated to major social media apps, where they were unwittingly spread by audiences and algorithms.
“The false narrative that Taylor Swift used Nazi symbolism was not limited to fringe conspiracy spaces, but managed to attract typical users to comparisons between Swift and Kanye West,” the researchers wrote. “This demonstrates how a strategically planted lie can become authentic and widespread discourse, reshaping public perception even when most users do not believe the initial claim.”
Even getting the public to disagree with the accusations was successful for those responsible for the attack, Gudea founder and CEO Keith Presley told Rolling Stone. “That’s part of the purpose of this type of story, for the person pushing it. Especially the more inflammatory ones, who will be rewarded by the algorithm. You’ll see how influencers launch first, because that will earn them clicks.”
However, some critics have questioned some of the values apparently displayed in The life of a showgirlemphasizing that the song Canceled! — in which Swift welcomes social outcasts into her world, after enduring widespread public backlash herself in 2015 — could be sung gleefully by any bad actor who has suffered the consequences of harmful behavior.
This Friday, the first two episodes of The end of an eraa six-part Disney+ documentary series that gives a behind-the-scenes look at Swift’s blockbuster Eras Tour, which ran from spring 2023 to December 2024.
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