She’s 19, half-Brazilian, half-Spanish… she lives in Los Angeles. She has an Instagram account with a million followers. Major brands work with her. But she’s not real. And her account has been hacked by another “virtual personality.”
Confused? If you’ve never heard of Lil Miquela – aka Miquela Souza – the world’s first “virtual influencer,” you’re likely to be even more confused with this piece of news: Lil Miquela, a digital creation (literally) and influencer/internet celebrity, has been hacked. Celebs get hacked all the time, so what’s so different here? Well, actually, it’s just her Instagram account that’s been hacked, but that not really the point. She’s allegedly been hacked by another virtual influencer – Bermuda.
Ok, Lil Miquela’s account has actually been hacked by alt-right trolls. You see, she’s a supporter of social movements like Black Lives Matter, and ideas like multiculturalism, and freedom of expression. On the other hand, Bermuda (@bermudaisbae) is a pro-Trump, alt-right avatar that has been threatening Miquela for the past few months.
Bermuda, created by Cain Intelligence – a “leader in machine learning and artificial intelligence” – is “the first of her kind […] built to speak her truth and to the interests of today’s youth, she is uniquely unapologetic, representing not only a breakthrough in artificial intelligence but also in modern political thought.” Whatever that means.
So, welcome to 2018… where a progressive, forward-thinking, multicultural virtual entity, is hacked and bullied by another virtual entity – a right-leaning virtual Tomi Lahren. I think there is still a lot we haven’t seen in this saga.
Image credit: PhotoshopSurgeon via YouTube
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