In today's internet world, not even virtual Instagram influencers are safe. On Tuesday, one computer generated bot named Bermuda, seemed to have hacked into another computer generated bot's Instagram account. Drama! And since there's nothing better than social media scandal—especially when it exists between two people who literally aren't real—here's everything you need to know about what is definitely probably a hoax fight between these two literally soulless influencers.
Who's Lil Miquela?
Miquela Sousa, otherwise known as Lil Miquela on Instagram (@lilmiquela), is a 19-year-old Brazilian-American Instagram influencer with one million followers. She's based in Los Angeles and works as a musician and model, and she has an Instagram where she posts photos of her outfits (she wears Supreme, Vetements, and Vans) and of herself at events with other friends and influencers. She loves Cardi B and tiny sunglasses. She supports causes like Black Lives Matter and transgender rights, and is a musician with real songs on Spotify. (Granted, they're clearly generated/autotuned songs, but they're not entirely bad.) She's also a true influencer, who's been featured in Paper and V magazine; she even teamed up with Prada for fashion week:
But, as you probably know, she’s not entirely real. Miquela is actually a sophisticated computer algorithm programmed to pretend to be a 19-year-old Brazilian American Instagram influencer. So basically she's computer-generated, but she won't really admit to it. She told Business of Fashion over chat that she’d rather be described “as an artist or a singer or something that denotes my craft rather than focus on the superficial qualities of who I am.”
In that particular interview, Miquela said her identity is not “crowdsourced” and that she’s expressed unpopular opinions that have “cost” her fans. She’s starting to get free stuff sent to her from brands (though she tries to support “young designers who are trying to break through”). She gets money through Spotify and iTunes, and claims some of the “biggest agencies in the world” have reached out to her about modeling.
So then who's Bermuda, and what did she do?
On Tuesday, Miquela's profile was hacked, with many photos deleted and replaced with photos of a different computer generated avatar, Bermuda.
As of Wednesday morning, all traces of Bermuda had been deleted from Miquela’s account, but thankfully the internet has screenshots. According to Motherboard, Bermuda wrote this in the caption of one of her photos on Miquela’s account:
“Hi guys! Bermuda here. Soooo... you’re being lied to by a fake a*s person. Literally who is buying this for one second? Apparently a lot of you. …Sorry, Miquela. I tried to DM, I tried to call but you ‘stay curving’ me. You brought this on yourself, girl 😘 Leave me a comment if you care about the truth, k? 😘 Go follow @bermudaisbae.”
Bermuda, who's more obviously generated, is also political, though she veers further to the right than Miquela does. She's a clear Trump supporter, and her Instagram bio denies climate change: “The earth isn't getting hotter but I am.” She posts memes condemning Hillary Clinton and "liberal feminism," and she's up on current events: She posted this graduation photo that was recently making the rounds on Twitter. She even posted a photo of James Damore, calling the former Google engineer who wrote an anti-diversity memo a “Freedom Fighter. Truth Teller. Patriot.”
On Monday, Bermuda posted on her own Instagram, warning that she was going to hack Miquela: “Ok, Miquela. I tried being nice. I called, I texted. I didn’t want this to be hard, but you brought this on yourself. See you tomorrow, world 😘#NexStep #literallyperfect”
After Miquela got back into her account, she deleted all the photos. But because virtual bots are obviously internet savvy, Bermuda posted the receipts onto her own account and wrote, “Of COURSE Miquela deletes my posts the second I give her the account back. Even after all that she’s still running from the truth. 47 hours left @lilmiquela. Soon there will be no lies and everything will be revealed. Here’s a recap of today’s work. I’ll always be honest with you guys + make sure you have the info you need 😘#teamBermuda #BermudaHive#hotterinBermuda #Bermudatriangle#theNextStep #discourse #learntotalk”
She then posted these cryptic Instagrams with more threats:
The threats, stemming from Bermuda’s Instagram account, go all the way back to September 2017. Bermuda seems to be angry that Miquela pretends she’s real (take another look back at that Business of Fashion interview) while Bermuda is transparent about being an avatar.
But they're not real, right?
No, they're not "real." (I'm only putting real in quotes because what on the internet, and especially on social media, even IS real?? But that's a conversation for a different time.)
So then who's behind the accounts?
According to Motherboard, Bermuda’s account revealed she’s a project created by Cain Intelligence, who describes itself as “leaders in machine learning and artificial intelligence.” Its website says the company is “the industry leader in Conscious Language Intelligence (CLI), a type of Artificial Intelligence that allows for humans to engage with our specialized robots in free-format, natural language. Using speech, text, touch or gesture CLI allows for rapid training and deployment of robotic workers and weapons that outpace human productivity by 280% in controlled studies.”
The company claims to be built by someone named Daniel Cain who lives in Palo Alto, but the photo included on the website doesn't show his face, and a Tineye search revealed it's actually just a stock photo. Additionally, California business records show there are no businesses named "Cain Intelligence" incorporated in California, and a person records search for a Daniel Cain in Palo Alto turned up zero results.
The site also includes an endorsement for Donald Trump and claims responsibility for Bermuda. It describes her as “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.”
While Motherboard reported that Miquela’s profile previously had a link to Cain Intelligence, no one seems to know for sure who created her or why. At one point, people though it was digital artist Nicole Ruggiero, who commented on one of Miquela’s early Instagrams. But while Ruggiero does create 3D models, she told the Washington Post that she isn’t Miquela’s creator. “Whoever came up with this is brilliant,” she told the site.
Anonymous sources told The Cut that there's at least one "real-life human woman involved in her content creation, as well as one real-life human man," though the exact size of the team has not been confirmed.
But did Miquela really get hacked?
That, it seems, is the real question. Though Miquela did tweet she was hacked, that tweet has since been deleted, and a source told The Cut that the whole thing was a planned stunt. All her photos have been restored, and her fans are currently commenting on her Instagrams asking what happened. (Is she dropping new music? Is this the government's way of introducing robots in our society? Is it the end of the world?) But since none of this is truly real, it's hard to say!
An Instagram spokesperson told ELLE.com that the company cannot comment on individual accounts. We will update this post once we learn more.
