A 22-year-old medical student in India created a fake AI-generated conservative woman named Emily Hart and used her to run MAGA-themed social media accounts, earning thousands monthly through merchandise and subscriptions before Instagram banned the account for fraud in February 2026. The student told Wired he deliberately targeted older conservative men because they have high disposable income and are 'loyal' followers, and made derisive comments about his audience's intelligence. The actual facts are verified across multiple outlets including Wired, NDTV, and Times of India—but the headline frames this as a gotcha about MAGA voters rather than focusing on the deliberate fraud and AI deception strategy itself, which affected audiences across the political spectrum who fell for AI-generated content.