Lil Miquela

About

Lil Miquela is a 3D computer-generated Instagram model and pop star portrayed as a Spanish-Brazilian American from Downey, California who frequents Los Angeles nightclubs, art galleries and wears designer clothing. She has been compared to the Japanese Vocaloid character Hatsune Miku.

Origin

On April 22nd, 2016, the @lilmiquela^[2] Instagram account was launched. Over the next two years, the account published more than 145 posts and gathered upwards of one million followers.

Spread

On September 13th, 2016, the Wordpress blog CherryAustin^[5] published a post noting similarities between Lil Miquela and British model Emily Bador (shown below).

On June 21st, a thread about the character was submitted to the image board Lolcow.farm,^[6] describing her as a "real life breathing Sim character." On January 26th, 2017, YouTuber ReignBot uploaded a video about the character titled "Who or What Is Lil Miquela?" (shown below, left). On September 18th, YouTuber Shane Dawson uploaded a video featuring an interview with Lil Miquela (shown below, right). Within one year, the video gained over 5.6 million views and 74,900 comments.

On March 12th, 2018, YouTuber Karin Michelle uploaded a video titled "Lil Miquela Is a Real Girl," speculating that the character is based off a real girl (shown below).

Bermuda Hack

On April 17th, 2018, the @LilMiquela account was compromised by a person claiming to be @BermudaIsBae,^[4] a computer-generated Instagram model known for espousing conservative political views.

That day, the @lilmiquela^[7] Twitter feed announced that the Instagram feed had been hacked. The tweet was subsequently deleted once the account was restored. Meanwhile, the Vice tech news sites Motherboard^[8] published an article titled "A Computer-Generated, Pro-Trump Instagram Model Said She Hacked Lil Miquela, Another CGI Instagram Model." On April 18th, 2018, the blog HighSnobiety^[3] published an article titled "Virtual Influencer Lil Miquela Has Been Hacked, Possibly By Alt-Right Trolls."

Calvin Klien Ad

On May 16th, 2019, Lil Miquela posted a Calvin Klein Ad to Instagram in which her and Bella Hadid share a kiss (shown below, left). The video gained over 181,600 likes in seven months. The video received backlash in comments and on Twitter for "queerbaiting." The next day Calvin Klein issued an apology on Twitter^[9] which garnered over 280 likes in seven months.

Sexual Assault Vlog

On December 12th, Twitter user @CORNYASSBITCH reposted a Lil Miquela vlog which has since been deleted from the Lil Miquela channel with the caption, "I have so many questions…" (shown below). The video gained over 8,500 likes and 1,100 retweets in four days.

That day, American singer Kehlani responded to the video on Twitter^[12] by saying, "nah. at first it was kinda interesting. maybe. but @lilmiquela ^[10]you’re playing wit real stories… real trauma.. sexual assault is a scary real reality and at this point you’re ignorantly offensive. what type of sick shit is this" which received over 42,800 likes in four days. Twitter user @CORNYASSBITCH,^[11] continued to comment by saying, "The CGI market is just a back door for these companies to profit off situations and cultures by creating a literal fiction character without having to deal with real people" (shown below, left). The tweet accumulated over 5,600 likes in four days. The next day, @TruePlantDad received over 630 likes in three days for their comment (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References