TOCHIGI (TR) – A male member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) has been caught posing as a fictitious woman on X.
Using artificial intelligence to generate photos of his fake persona, the unnamed member used the account to push political posts, the party’s Tochigi prefectural chapter revealed on Wednesday.
The account, operating under the name “Riho Nakamura @ Constitutional Democratic Party,” was established in June of this year. It featured numerous posts detailing political campaigns and election activities across Tochigi and Nagano prefectures.
To make the ruse convincing, the man uploaded AI-generated images of a young woman superimposed against realistic political backdrops, including the Diet members’ office building and bustling election rallies.
The Tochigi chapter was quick to distance itself from the bizarre deception.
“The content and expression could easily lead to the misunderstanding that this was part of the official activities of the party or the prefectural chapter,” said Takeshi Onuki, head of the Tochigi chapter, on the same day. “We are entirely bewildered as we had absolutely no involvement in this. It is a massive nuisance.”
According to the chapter, the man is a registered CDP member who frequently attended the party’s street speeches. However, officials vehemently denied ever commissioning him to operate the account or act as a digital spokesperson on their behalf.
