Over 18,000 Bot Accounts Allegedly Boosted Nicki Minaj's Pro-Trump Posts on X, Disinformation Firm Finds

Here is something that does not happen very often: a disinformation detection firm best known for tracking wartime propaganda campaigns and election interference turning its attention to a rapper's X account. But that is exactly what Cyabra, an Israeli outfit that counts Elon Musk and Pepsi among its past clients, has done — and what it found has landed squarely in the middle of one of the messiest collisions of hip-hop, MAGA politics and algorithmic manipulation in recent memory.

The firm identified 18,784 fake accounts — roughly 33% of the 55,469 profiles that engaged with 51 political posts on Nicki Minaj's X account between 11 November and 28 December 2025. That is three to four times the industry baseline for inauthentic activity in organic social media discourse, which Cyabra puts at between 7 and 10 per cent.

The 24-page report, shared exclusively with Politico on 23 February 2026, does not accuse Minaj directly. But it concludes that a coordinated campaign was operating in the background of her political pivot, manufacturing the appearance of broad public support while she was cementing herself as one of the most visible conservative voices in American pop culture.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bots. And the question of who paid for them — or whether anyone did — remains wide open.

What the Bots Actually Did

Cyabra's analysts flagged three patterns. The fake accounts posted in tight two- to three-hour bursts, reused identical keywords and emoji strings, and clustered overwhelmingly in the 25-to-34 age bracket — a demographic the firm said appeared engineered to look credible rather than reflecting any natural audience.

Some generated brief, repetitive praise loaded with positive hashtags. Others produced what the report described as longer, more detailed comments designed to pass as genuine fan engagement. On 26 December alone, 56% of all comments on Minaj's political posts came from accounts Cyabra classified as fake, according to TMZ.

That is a staggering single-day figure. And it fell during what was arguably the peak of Minaj's MAGA turn — she had appeared at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest in December, speaking alongside Erika Kirk and telling the audience she had 'the utmost respect and admiration for our president'.

Cyabra expressed 85% confidence in its identifications, adding that stricter behavioural filters could push that figure closer to 90%.

Dan Brahmy, the firm's CEO and founder, told Politico the case was unusual for his field. 'We don't really see a lot of high volume, high impact orchestration of bad and fake actors within that intersection of the geopolitically driven and music culture,' he said. What made it stranger still, Brahmy added, was that many of the bot accounts had a documented history of boosting Minaj's music posts before she started posting about politics at all — suggesting a pre-existing network was repurposed.

Real Influencers, Same Playbook

The bots were not working alone. Cyabra found that authentic accounts belonging to conservative influencers Dom Lucre and Matt Wallace were amplifying Minaj's content in ways that, behaviourally, mirrored the fake accounts almost exactly.

Both were echoing her political posts. But they were also circulating her music industry grievances — attacks on Kendrick Lamar and Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge — which had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with longstanding rap feuds.

Brahmy drew a pointed conclusion. 'Real human beings are behaving the exact same way, utilising the exact same behavioural patterns, as you would expect from a well-coordinated campaign,' he told Politico. 'They amplify each other. They are riding the same, similar wave of narrative.'

Cyabra also found overlap between accounts boosting Minaj and those amplifying content from Turning Point USA, the right-wing youth organisation founded by the late Charlie Kirk. Whether that overlap was organic or orchestrated, the report did not say.

Lucre rejected the findings outright, calling them 'one of the most absurd conspiracy theories I have ever seen in my entire life'.

Minaj's Camp Fires Back — and Drags Cardi B Into It

The counterattack came fast. Not from Minaj herself, who has not publicly addressed the report, but from Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump adviser and close ally of the rapper.

Bruesewitz called the report '100% BS' and told Politico: 'Nicki has never used bot activity to promote herself on social media, because she doesn't need to. She has one of the largest fan bases of any musician that's alive today.'

Then he shifted the focus to Cyabra's board. Two members of the firm's Brand and Entertainment Council — David Wander, chief digital officer at Jay-Z's Roc Nation, and Mike 'G' Guirguis, a partner at United Talent Agency who represents Cardi B — have professional connections to Minaj's most public rivals. Bruesewitz called it a 'fabricated hoax' driven by those feuds.

That dragged Cardi B into the story whether she liked it or not. She did not like it.

'Listen, you involved me in something that has nothing to do with me,' Cardi wrote on X, before rattling off Cyabra's client list — Musk, Pepsi, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the board of advisers — and insisting the data was legitimate. 'I get down to the GRISTLE of it!!' she added, and threatened to sue Bruesewitz. Whether she follows through on that threat remains to be seen; the exchange was still unfolding on X as of Monday evening.

Mike G posted separately to deny any conflict of interest, stressing that his investment in Cyabra and his representation of Cardi B operate in 'separate lanes'. Fair enough — but the lanes did rather publicly merge the moment Bruesewitz named him.

The person who commissioned the Cyabra report was not identified. Politico granted them anonymity on the grounds that they feared retaliation.

A Timeline That Tells Its Own Story

Pull back and the chronology is worth laying out.

In November, Minaj began posting aggressively in support of Trump and against Democratic figures, particularly California Governor Gavin Newsom. In December, she appeared at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest. On 28 January 2026, she joined Trump on stage at the Treasury Department's Trump Accounts Summit, where the president praised her publicly and they recorded a TikTok together.

On 22 February — the day before Cyabra's report went public — Minaj posted a photograph of a Bible signed by Trump, calling it 'one of the most meaningful gifts I've ever received in my entire life.' That single post pulled in more than 117,000 likes and 14,000 comments by the following afternoon, the Hollywood Reporter noted.

How many of those comments were real? The report covers only the November-to-December window, so the Bible post sits outside its scope. But the question now hangs over everything she puts on X.

Critics of the Cyabra analysis, including Breitbart, have claimed the report misidentified certain verified accounts as fake, allegedly including accounts belonging to Trump and UN Ambassador Michael Waltz. If accurate, that would undercut the firm's confidence figures. Cyabra has not publicly addressed the claim.

What nobody disputes is the scale of engagement around Minaj's political posts. Whether it was earned, purchased, or manufactured by someone else entirely is the part that, right now, nobody can prove.