For thousands of conservative men scrolling Instagram in early 2026, Emily Hart seemed like the real thing. A pro-Trump nurse in her twenties who loved rifles, cold beer and Bible verses looked a bit like Jennifer Lawrence and posted red-meat political content that flew around MAGA circles like wildfire. Her reels pulled millions of views. Her follower count climbed past 10,000 within weeks.
But there's a twist. Emily Hart does not exist.
The account, "Emily Hart," was created by a 22-year-old orthopaedic surgery trainee in northern India, identified only as Sam, who told WIRED he built the persona using AI tools to fund his medical education.
Sam said he initially tried other online ventures first, such as YouTube videos selling study notes. None worked. Then he turned to Google's Gemini chatbot for advice on monetising AI-generated images of women.
The chatbot's suggestion was specific. A generic attractive woman would get lost in a crowded market. But targeting conservative Americans would be different. According to Sam, Gemini described the MAGA niche as a 'cheat code,' noting that older conservative men tend to have higher disposable income and stronger loyalty to creators.
A Google spokesperson disputed the characterisation, telling The Daily Beast that Gemini is designed to respond to requests without conveying particular beliefs and simply answered a question about reaching a specific political audience.
For @WIRED, I spoke to a med student in India who made thousands of dollars duping MAGA fans by creating a blonde AI influencer named "Emily Hart." Here's how he did it. pic.twitter.com/oaCdDekIho
— ej (@ejdickson) April 21, 2026
Rifle Range Photos and Rage Bait Drove Millions Of Views
Armed with that blueprint, Sam crafted Emily Hart's entire identity. She was 22, worked as a nurse, and spent her spare time ice fishing and firing weapons at the range. Her captions hit every culture war flashpoint.
'Every day I'd write something pro-Christian, pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, anti-abortion, anti-woke, and anti-immigration,' he told WIRED.
The strategy was built around what Sam called rage bait. Polarising captions drew furious engagement from critics and enthusiastic support from fans alike, and the algorithm rewarded both. Sam claimed individual reels were pulling three million, five million, even ten million views.
He monetised through MAGA-themed T-shirts and an account on Fanvue, a subscription platform similar to OnlyFans that permits AI-generated content. Paying followers could access explicit AI-generated images of Hart, produced using xAI's Grok tool.
'I was spending maybe 30 to 50 minutes of my day, and I was making good money for a medical student,' Sam told WIRED. 'In India, even in professional jobs, you can't make this amount of money.'
Instagram Banned The Account But Fake AI Profiles Keep Growing
Instagram requires creators to disclose AI-generated content, but Sam's posts ran for months without any label. The platform eventually banned the Emily Hart account in February for 'fraudulent' activity. A related Facebook page stayed up longer before it, too, was taken down.
Sam was blunt about why the scheme worked on one side of the political divide and not the other. He said he tried creating a liberal counterpart on Instagram. It flopped. 'Democrats know that it's AI slop, so they don't engage as much,' he told WIRED. 'The MAGA crowd is made up of dumb people - like, super dumb people. And they fall for it.' He said he felt no remorse.
Emily Hart was not an isolated case. A separate AI-generated persona called 'Jessica Foster,' depicting a fabricated female soldier, accumulated more than one million Instagram followers before being removed. That account monetised doctored images alongside world leaders and foot-fetish content, per The Daily Beast.
Valerie Wirtschafter, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who researches emerging technology and democracy, told WIRED the trend is part of a broader shift. 'AI has made them more believable, and there has perhaps been an amplification of it,' she said.
She added that young conservative women are especially effective as online personas because women aged 18 to 29 overwhelmingly lean liberal, making a pro-MAGA woman in that bracket a rarity.
Sam said he has stepped away from running AI influencer accounts and returned to his medical studies. He told WIRED he has never set foot in the United States - the country whose politics made him thousands.
