If you spent much time on the internet leading up to the release of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, you probably came across a strange theory in the comment section: that Swift is a secret Nazi. According to a new white paper from GUDEA, a small number of bots managed to spread the theory across the internet by baiting human users into arguments. By trying to correct the bots, T-Swift defenders inadvertently reinforced the narrative, leading to a feedback loop in social media algorithms that caused the theory to go ever-more viral.
As Rolling Stone reports, the theory of Nazi identification was tied to such flimsy evidence as a lightning-bolt necklace that maybe-kinda-sorta looks like an SS symbol, or fixating on an out-of-context use of the word “savage” in the song “Eldest Daughter.” The campaign began in places like 4chan but quickly went mainstream, relying on a stan army as well as argumentative normies to give the theory an algorithmic boost.
“The false narrative that Taylor Swift was using Nazi symbolism did not remain confined to fringe conspiratorial spaces; it successfully pulled typical users into comparisons between Swift and Kanye West,” the report says. “This demonstrates how a strategically seeded falsehood can convert into widespread authentic discourse, reshaping public perception even when most users do not believe the originating claim.”
Notably, GUDEA found “a significant user overlap between accounts pushing the Swift ‘Nazi’ narrative and those active in a separate astroturf campaign attacking Blake Lively.” After Lively had sued her It Ends with Us co-star Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment, she ended up on the receiving end of another campaign to damage her reputation. GUDEA identified 2,395 accounts involved in both, writing, “These users do not behave uniformly; they shift personas depending on topic, platform,
and narrative tension.”
Which leads to the big question: Why? The disinformation campaign doesn’t seem to have changed many minds, and it sure didn’t hurt sales of The Life of a Showgirl. Georgia Paul, GUDEA’s head of customer success, wondered if the Swift campaign might be a test-run for other, more consequential events. She speculated “that there might be other nefarious actors, not U.S.-based, who have reasons to see, ‘If I can move the fan base for Taylor Swift — an icon who is this political figure, in a way — does that mean I can do it in other places?’”
In other words, the next time you see someone being loudly wrong on the internet, maybe resist the urge to correct them. You might be doing exactly what they want.
