Nicki Minaj's MAGA Embrace: Fueled by Bots?
A new report alleges that a significant portion of the engagement on Nicki Minaj's political posts on X may be from bot accounts, raising questions about the authenticity of her support.
A new report suggests that Nicki Minaj's recent alignment with MAGA politics may be amplified by bot activity on X.
According to a report by disinformation company Cyabra, a significant portion of the profiles engaging with Minaj's political posts last fall were likely fake. The report, shared with Politico, analyzed 51 "political-related posts" on Minaj's X account between November 11 and December 22.
During this period, Minaj was solidifying her position as a darling of the right-wing, even speaking at Turning Point USA events.
Of the more than 55,000 profiles interacting with these posts, Cyabra found that at least 33 percent (nearly 19,000) were likely fake. This is significantly higher than the typical benchmark of seven to 10 percent for fake accounts in organic social media discourse, according to the report.
Nicki Minaj
"Based on the scale, concentration, and behavioral alignment of the inauthentic activity identified," the report reads, "Cyabra assesses with high confidence that a coordinated fake campaign was actively amplifying political content" on Minaj's X account. The source who commissioned the report from Cyabra remains anonymous due to fears of retaliation.
One key indicator of inauthenticity cited by Cyabra was a "linguistic and stylistic uniformity" among the allegedly fake accounts. When Minaj faced criticism, these accounts responded with support using "highly similar language and messaging."
While some shared "longer, more detailed comments designed to appear organic," many posts were described as "brief, repetitive, and low in semantic complexity," designed to "shape the overall tone of the discussion through scale rather than persuasion." The report also noted that toxic content tied to Minaj's posts enjoyed "substantially stronger amplification."
The allegedly fake profiles often posted alongside authentic users, "adopting engagement rhythms that closely mirrored organic behavior." This suggested "a deliberate attempt to integrate into genuine conversations, increasing the credibility and visibility of the amplified content."
Cyabra's report also revealed overlap between accounts boosting Minaj's posts and those amplifying content from Turning Point USA, the right-wing group founded by Charlie Kirk.
Speaking with Politico, Cyabra's CEO and founder, Dan Brahmy, noted the unusual intersection of geopolitical and music culture in this phenomenon. "We don’t really see a lot of high volume, high impact orchestration of bad and fake actors within that intersection of the geopolitically driven and music culture. It is scarce in our field to see the combination of the bad and the fake online world with the entertainment world."
Cyabra also found that Minaj's posts were being amplified by authentic accounts, including conservative influencers like Dom Lucre and Matt Wallace. These figures echoed Minaj's political content and also shared her music industry grievances, attacking Kendrick Lamar and Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge.
Dom Lucre
Dan Brahmy suggested this indicated strategic coordination: "Real human beings are behaving the exact same way, utilizing the exact same behavioral patterns, as you would expect from a well coordinated campaign. They amplify each other. They are riding the same, similar wave of narrative."
Lucre rebuffed the suggestion, attacking the Politico piece on social media.
Nicki Minaj is now pulling so many liberals to the right that they now have to push out a theory that these aren’t real organic people, and that she’s now manipulating the system with bots.
If Nicki Minaj was manipulating systems with bots on Instagram, TikTok, X, do you not think there would be a conclusive data that they would have to present this instead of asking influencers to say yes? — Dom Lucre 🇺🇸 (@dom_lucre) February 24, 2024
Rolling Stone's attempts to reach Minaj were unsuccessful. Alex Bruesewitz, a friend of Minaj’s and political advisor to Donald Trump, told Politico, "Nicki has never used bot activity to promote herself on social media, because she doesn’t need to. She has one of the largest fan bases of any musician that’s alive today."
In a subsequent statement to Rolling Stone, Bruesewitz reiterated this sentiment: "The notion that she would rely on bots for online support is utterly absurd," he wrote in an email. "Cyabra is partnered with Roc Nation’s Chief Digital Officer, David Wander, and Cardi B’s agent, Mike G. Given that Nicki has had long-standing, public feuds with both Jay-Z/Roc Nation and Cardi B, this allegation seems to be a 100% fabricated hoax." (G, a partner at United Talent Agency, and Wander both sit on the Cyabra Brand & Entertainment Council. A representative for Roc Nation did not return a request for comment.)
After Bruesewitz shared similar claims on X, Cardi B pushed back, noting that that Cyabra’s past customers include Elon Musk and Pepsi, and that Mike G also reps Lil Wayne.
Isn’t that your friend CEO? You wanna involve me so bad for what but don’t wanna talk about none of the facts 🙄🙄🙄🙄 https://t.co/eWf1w7M6O4 — Cardi B (@iamcardib) February 25, 2024
Mike G also chimed in, writing, "Let’s be clear: my advisory role and investment in Cyabra along with multiple other tech companies has absolutely nothing to do with Cardi B. Cardi doesn’t need bots, narratives, or manufactured noise. She moves culture on her own. I invest in innovation. I represent artists. Those are separate lanes. Trying to spin this into something else is lazy and misleading."
Let’s be clear: my advisory role and investment in Cyabra along with multiple other tech companies has absolutely nothing to do with Cardi B. Cardi doesn’t need bots, narratives, or manufactured noise. She moves culture on her own. I invest in innovation. I represent artists. Those are… https://t.co/hO8Sj0h6yM — Mike G (@Mikegagent) February 25, 2024
Interestingly, despite the focus on Minaj’s political shift, Cyabra concluded that the alleged bot campaign was more about reinforcing visible support for Nicki Minaj and manufacturing the appearance of a broad public endorsement.
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