Nicki Minaj’s MAGA Fanbase May Be Faker Than Her Feuds: New Bot Study Has the Receipts

Michael Prieve Tue, February 24, 2026 at 12:10 PM UTC

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Disinformation firm Cyabra found that 33% of accounts engaging with Nicki Minaj’s political X posts between November and December 2025 were fake — nearly five times the normal rate.

The bot campaign’s primary goal was reputational, not political — designed to manufacture the appearance of broad public support for Minaj rather than push a specific ideology.

Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz and conservative influencer Dom Lucre pushed back hard, calling the report bogus — and someone tried to drag Cardi B into it, naturally.

So it turns out Nicki Minaj‘s ascent as MAGA‘s favorite rap queen may have had a little… help.

A bombshell new report shared exclusively with Politico by Israeli disinformation detection firm Cyabra reveals that Nicki Minaj’s X account has been turbocharged by a coordinated army of bots — more than 18,000 of them — quietly flooding her political posts with praise and sending X’s algorithm into overdrive. The report analyzed 51 politically related posts on Minaj’s account between November 11 and December 28, 2025, right as the rapper was deep into her MAGA era.

The numbers don’t lie, even if the bots do. Of the 55,469 accounts Cyabra reviewed, 18,784 were identified as inauthentic, generating 31,701 comments and 59,001 total engagements, including likes and replies. For context, established benchmarks for fake accounts in “organic social media discourse” typically range from 7 to 10 percent. Minaj’s number? A whopping 33 percent. That’s not a fan base — that’s an operation.

Nicki Minaj at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, USA on August 30, 2015. — Photo by PopularImages/depositphotos.com

And it got worse on one particular day. On December 26, fake profiles generated 56% of all comments on Nicki’s political posts. “On that day, fake accounts not only participated in the discussion but dominated the conversation, materially shaping both its volume and momentum,” the report read.

The fake accounts weren’t exactly subtle about it, either. “Supportive comments generated by fake profiles were predominantly brief, repetitive, and low in semantic complexity, consisting largely of praising keywords and positive hashtags rather than original or substantive engagement,” the report found. One account flagged as fake, @LAX76283656, left a gem of a comment: “Nicki you are brave for living your truth, people might not always agree with what’s being played out, but as an artist and watching your growth as a person is inspiring.” Truly the Turing test of our times.

Nicki Minaj at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles, United States, 181112. — Photo by PopularImages/depositphotos.com

What makes this particularly juicy is what Cyabra says the bots were actually for — and it wasn’t about electing anyone. Cyabra concluded that “the campaign’s primary objective was reputational rather than political, focusing on reinforcing visible support for Nicki Minaj — particularly in posts that attracted criticism — in order to manufacture the appearance of broad public endorsement and a supportive fan base.”

In other words, someone may have wanted the world to believe Nicki’s pivot to the right was way more popular than it actually is.

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There’s also an interesting overlap Cyabra uncovered. The accounts involved “predominantly amplify content produced by Nicki Minaj and Turning Point USA, indicating a notable overlap between the two within this discourse.” Minaj, of course, spoke at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in December and has since become a fixture in Trump’s orbit — holding hands with the president at his Accounts Summit and calling a Trump-signed Bible “one of the most meaningful gifts I’ve ever received in my entire life.”

Nicki Minaj at the world premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ film ‘Melania’ at the Trump-Kennedy Center on January 29, 2026. Photo Credit: AdMedia/MediaPunch/INSTARimages

Cyabra CEO and founder Dan Brahmy put it bluntly: “It is scarce in our field to see the combination of the bad and the fake online world with the entertainment world.”

Not everyone is buying the report, though. Trump advisor and self-described Minaj “very close friend” Alex Bruesewitz came out swinging. “Nicki has never used bot activity to promote herself on social media, because she doesn’t need to,” Bruesewitz told Politico. “She has one of the largest fan bases of any musician that’s alive today.”

Video Music Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, United States on September 6, 2012. — Photo by PopularImages/depositphotos.com

Bruesewitz also attempted to toss a lit match into the Minaj-Cardi B beef by alleging — without evidence — that Cardi’s team was somehow behind the report. Cardi B denied any involvement. Because, of course, she had to deny that she orchestrated a bot study. It’s 2026, and this is where we are.

Conservative influencer Dom Lucre was equally dismissive, calling the findings “one of the most absurd conspiracy theories I have ever seen in my entire life.” Lucre, notably, was himself flagged by Cyabra as one of the authentic accounts actively amplifying Minaj’s content alongside the bots.

Nicki Minaj at the Barbie World Premiere at the Shrine Auditorium on July 9, 2023 in Los Angeles, CA — Photo by Jean Nelson/depositphotos.com

Cyabra expressed 85 percent confidence in its identifications — and noted the level of inauthentic activity is a rate it associates with wars and election interference, not celebrity fan accounts. Which is, to put it mildly, a lot for someone who just really wants you to know she loves Jesus and hates Gavin Newsom.

The Cyabra report was commissioned by an anonymous source who, per Politico, feared public retaliation. Given that Minaj’s online world tends to be a contact sport, that tracks.

Representatives for Minaj did not respond to requests for comment.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”